Shloka 57
इति श्रीमहाभारते भीष्मपर्वणि भीष्मवधपर्वणि तृतीये युद्धदिवसे संकुलयुद्धे सप्तपज्चाशत्तमोडध्याय:
iti śrīmahābhārate bhīṣmaparvaṇi bhīṣmavadhaparvaṇi tṛtīye yuddhadivase saṅkulayuddhe saptapañcāśattamo 'dhyāyaḥ
Thus, in the Śrī Mahābhārata, within the Bhīṣma Parva—specifically the section concerning Bhīṣma’s fall—on the third day of battle, amid the confused and densely intermingled fighting, ends the fifty-seventh chapter.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
As a colophon, the verse does not teach through direct instruction; it frames the episode ethically by emphasizing the war’s escalating chaos (saṅkula-yuddha) and situating events within the arc leading to Bhīṣma’s fall—an emblem of how even the most venerable guardians of dharma can be overwhelmed when conflict becomes morally and tactically entangled.
This is the chapter-ending marker: it states that the account belongs to the Bhīṣma Parva, within the portion dealing with Bhīṣma’s downfall, and that the described events occur on the third day of fighting during a confused melee; it signals the close of the fifty-seventh chapter.