Shloka 29
अक्षौहिण्यो महाराज दशाष्टौ च समागता:,“महाराज! उस युद्धमें अठारह अक्षौहिणी सेनाएँ एकत्र हुई थीं; किंतु कौरवपक्षके प्रधान योद्धा भीष्म, द्रोण, कृपाचार्य आदि तथा महामना कर्णने एवं पाण्डवदलके प्रमुख वीर सात्यकि, धृष्टद्युम्न, भीमसेन, अर्जुन, नकुल और सहदेव आदिने अठारह दिनोंमें ही सबका संहार कर डाला”
akṣauhiṇyo mahārāja daśāṣṭau ca samāgatāḥ |
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: “O King, eighteen akṣauhiṇīs—full battle-divisions—had assembled for that war. Yet within only eighteen days the foremost champions of the Kauravas—Bhīṣma, Droṇa, Kṛpa and others—and the high-souled Karṇa, together with the leading heroes of the Pāṇḍava host—Sātyaki, Dhṛṣṭadyumna, Bhīmasena, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva—brought about the destruction of them all.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the vast scale of the Kurukṣetra war and its rapid devastation, implying the fragility of worldly might and the grave ethical cost when conflict overwhelms dharma.
Vaiśaṃpāyana reminds the king that eighteen akṣauhiṇīs gathered for the war, and that the principal warriors on both sides—named here—were instrumental in the near-total annihilation within eighteen days.