महाव्यूहप्रवर्तनम् / Deployment of the Great Battle Arrays
इति श्रीमहाभारते भीष्मपर्वणि भीष्मवधपर्वणि भीष्मदुर्योधनसंवादे अशीतितमो<ध्याय:
iti śrīmahābhārate bhīṣmaparvaṇi bhīṣmavadhaparvaṇi bhīṣmaduryodhanasaṃvāde aśītitamo 'dhyāyaḥ
Thus, in the Śrī Mahābhārata, within the Bhīṣma Parva, in the section concerning Bhīṣma’s fall, in the dialogue between Bhīṣma and Duryodhana, ends the eightieth chapter. This closing colophon frames the episode as a morally charged exchange amid the calamity of war, where loyalty, duty (dharma), and the consequences of obstinacy converge around Bhīṣma’s impending downfall.
संजय उवाच
As a colophon, the verse does not teach through direct instruction; it signals that the preceding dialogue is to be read as ethically significant—counsel given amid war, and the tragic results when power and pride resist wise restraint.
This is the chapter-ending marker: Sañjaya indicates that the eightieth chapter concludes, situated in Bhīṣma Parva, specifically in the episode on Bhīṣma’s fall, and centered on the conversation between Bhīṣma and Duryodhana.