Shloka 30
अष्टावष्टगवान्यूहु: शकटानि यदायुधम् | अह्नस्तदष्टभागेन द्रौणिश्षिक्षेप मारिष,मान्यवर! आठ बैलोंसे जुते हुए आठ छकड़ोंने जितने आयुध ढोये थे, उन सबको अश्वत्थामाने उस दिनके आठवें भागमें चलाकर समाप्त कर दिया
aṣṭāv aṣṭagavāny ūhuḥ śakaṭāni yad āyudham | ahnas tad-aṣṭabhāgena drauṇiḥ ṣikṣepa māriṣ ||
Sañjaya said: The weapons that eight wagons, each drawn by eight oxen, had carried—Aśvatthāman, son of Droṇa, discharged and expended all of them within one-eighth of that day.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how concentrated martial skill can rapidly amplify destruction: vast stores of weaponry can be expended in a short time, reminding the listener that war’s momentum escalates quickly and that prowess, when yoked to conflict, becomes ethically perilous despite being admired as valor.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Aśvatthāman (Drauṇi) unleashed, in merely one-eighth of a day, the quantity of weapons that required eight ox-drawn wagons to transport—emphasizing the ferocity and pace of his fighting.