Shloka 74
भीष्मस्य मण्डलव्यूहः — Bhīṣma’s Maṇḍala Battle-Formation and the Opening Engagements
इति श्रीमहाभारते भीष्मपर्वणि भीष्मवधपर्वणि पञठचमदिवसावहारे चतु:सप्ततितमोध्याय:
iti śrīmahābhārate bhīṣmaparvaṇi bhīṣmavadhaparvaṇi pañcamadivasāvahāre catuḥsaptatitamo 'dhyāyaḥ
Thus, in the Śrī Mahābhārata, within the Bhīṣma Parva—specifically the section concerning the fall of Bhīṣma—during the account of the fifth day of battle, ends the seventy-fourth chapter. This colophon marks the close of a narrative unit, setting the events beneath the ethical weight of war and the approaching downfall of the great elder bound by vows and duty amid the battlefield’s tragic necessities.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
This line functions as a colophon rather than a doctrinal verse: it teaches how the epic frames moral history—events are carefully located within parva, sub-episode, and battle-day, underscoring that ethical reflection in the Mahābhārata is inseparable from narrative context.
The text is closing a chapter: it states that the seventy-fourth chapter ends within the Bhīṣma Parva, in the Bhīṣma-vadha episode, during the narration of the fifth day of the Kurukṣetra war.