Shloka 125
वासवी-शक्तेः प्रयोगः, घटोत्कच-वधोत्तर-शोकः, व्यासोपदेशश्च
The Vāsavī Spear’s Use, Post-Ghaṭotkaca Grief, and Vyāsa’s Counsel
दारितान् द्रौणिना बाणैर्भुशं विक्षतविग्रहान् । जहि मातुल कौन्तेयानसुरानिव पावकि:,“मातुल! द्रोणकुमार अश्व॒त्थामाने कुन्तीकुमारोंको अपने बाणोंद्वारा विदीर्ण कर डाला है; उनके शरीरोंको क्षत-विक्षत कर दिया है। इस अवस्थामें असुरोंका वध करनेवाले कुमार कार्तिकेयकी भाँति तुम कुन्तीपुत्रोंकी मार डालो"
sañjaya uvāca | dāritān drauṇinā bāṇair bhṛśaṃ vikṣata-vigrahān | jahi mātula kaunteyān asurān iva pāvakiḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “Torn apart by Droṇa’s son with his arrows, their bodies grievously mangled—slay the sons of Kuntī, O maternal uncle, as the Fire-born (Kārttikeya) slew the asuras.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse illustrates how, in wartime rhetoric, divine exemplars are invoked to justify escalating violence—revealing the ethical tension between dharma and the momentum of vengeance and ‘victory at any cost’.
Sañjaya reports that Aśvatthāman has grievously wounded the sons of Kuntī with arrows, and he urges the addressed ‘maternal uncle’ to finish them off, comparing the act to Kārttikeya’s slaying of the asuras.