Shloka 90
अलंबलवधः (Alaṃbala-vadhaḥ) / The Slaying of Alaṃbala and the Advance toward Karṇa
भूयश्वापि निबोधेमं तवापनयजं क्षयम् | एकत्रिंशत् तव सुता भीमसेनेन पातिता:
bhūyaś cāpi nibodhemaṁ tavāpanayajaṁ kṣayam | ekatriṁśat tava sutā bhīmasenena pātitāḥ ||
Sañjaya said: Hear again of this further ruin that has befallen your line. Thirty-one of your sons have been struck down by Bhīmasena—an added measure of loss in the relentless course of war, where attachment and ambition culminate in grievous consequence.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the moral and existential cost of war: when power-seeking and partiality override dharma, the result is the devastation of one’s own lineage. It frames loss as a consequence that follows from choices and the momentum of conflict.
Sanjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Bhīmasena has slain thirty-one of Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s sons, emphasizing the escalating destruction suffered by the Kaurava family during the Kurukṣetra war.