Shloka 159
अजिशीर्षे प्रातःसंध्यायां संग्रामवर्णनम् / Dawn-Transition Battle at Ajiśīrṣa
Chapter 161
इति श्रीमहा भारते द्रोणपर्वणि घटोत्कचवधपर्वणि रात्रियुद्धे दुर्योधनवाक्ये एकोनषष्ट्यधिकशततमो<ध्याय:
iti śrīmahābhārate droṇaparvaṇi ghaṭotkacavadhaparvaṇi rātriyuddhe duryodhanavākye ekonaṣaṣṭyadhikaśatatamo 'dhyāyaḥ
Thus, in the sacred Mahābhārata, within the Droṇa Parva—specifically in the section on the slaying of Ghaṭotkaca, during the night-battle—these are the words of Duryodhana, concluding the one-hundred-and-sixty-first chapter.
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
This line functions as a colophon rather than a moral injunction: it frames the episode within the epic’s structure, reminding the reader that the night-battle and Ghaṭotkaca’s death are pivotal narrative moments where strategy, desperation, and the ethical strain of warfare intensify.
The text is closing/marking the chapter in the Droṇa Parva during the night-fighting sequence, in the subsection dealing with Ghaṭotkaca’s slaying, and it identifies the preceding passage as Duryodhana’s words.