Shloka 164
Aśvatthāmā’s Lamentation, Vow of Retaliation, and the Manifestation of the Nārāyaṇāstra (द्रोणपर्व, अध्याय १६६)
इति श्रीमहाभारते द्रोणपर्वणि घटोत्कचवधपर्वणि रात्रियुद्धे संकुलयुद्धे चतुःषष्ट्यधिकशततमो<ध्याय:
iti śrīmahābhārate droṇaparvaṇi ghaṭotkacavadhaparvaṇi rātriyuddhe saṅkulayuddhe catuḥṣaṣṭyadhikaśatatamo 'dhyāyaḥ
Thus, in the Śrī Mahābhārata, within the Droṇa Parva—specifically in the section on the slaying of Ghaṭotkaca—this concludes the one-hundred-and-sixty-fourth chapter, describing the night-battle and the confused, densely entangled fighting. The colophon marks the narrative’s moral atmosphere: warfare has crossed into darkness and disorder, where clarity of dharma is strained and the cost of victory is measured in escalating, desperate means.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
As a colophon, the verse does not teach through direct instruction but through framing: it highlights that the war has entered a night-battle and a chaotic melee, suggesting a moral and strategic descent where ordinary restraints weaken and the burden of adharma-like methods increases.
This is the closing marker of a chapter in the Droṇa Parva, within the episode of Ghaṭotkaca’s death. It signals that the chapter’s events concern fighting at night and a confused, densely entangled battle, and it formally concludes the chapter count.