Shloka 17
Adhyāya 111 (Book 6): Daśama-dina-saṃgrāma—Bhīṣma’s Counsel to Yudhiṣṭhira and the Śikhaṇḍin-Led Advance
ततः प्रववृते युद्ध तव तेषां च भारत । अन्योन्यं निध्नतां राजन् यमराष्ट्रविवर्धनम्,भारत! (उस दिन भी व्यूह-रचनाके बाद) आपके और पाण्डवोंकी सेनामें युद्ध आरम्भ हुआ। राजन! परस्पर घातक प्रहार करनेवाले उन वीरोंका युद्ध यमराजके राज्यकी वृद्धि करनेवाला था
tataḥ pravavṛte yuddhaṃ tava teṣāṃ ca bhārata | anyonyaṃ nidhnatāṃ rājan yamarāṣṭravivardhanam ||
Sañjaya said: “Then, O Bhārata, the battle commenced between your forces and theirs. O King, as those warriors struck one another down, that combat became an augmenter of Yama’s realm—swelling the dominion of Death through mutual slaughter.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the ethical gravity of war: when warriors engage in mutual killing, the immediate ‘fruit’ is not glory but the expansion of Death’s domain. It frames battle as a dharmically weighty act with irreversible consequences.
After the armies have been arrayed, Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that fighting breaks out between the Kaurava and Pāṇḍava forces, with intense reciprocal strikes leading to many deaths—figuratively described as increasing Yama’s kingdom.