Shloka 5
Yudhiṣṭhira’s Lament and Kṛṣṇa’s Rudra-Cosmogony Explanation (सौप्तिक पर्व, अध्याय १७)
कि नु तेन कृतं कर्म तथायुक्तं नरर्षभ । यदेक: समरे सर्वानिवधीजन्नो गुरो: सुत:,“नरश्रेष्ठ) आचार्यपुत्रने ऐसा कौन-सा उपयुक्त कर्म किया था, जिससे उसने अकेले ही समरांगणमें हमारे सभी सैनिकोंका वध कर डाला'
ki nu tena kṛtaṃ karma tathāyuktaṃ nararṣabha | yad ekaḥ samare sarvān ivadhīj janno guroḥ sutaḥ ||
“O bull among men, what fitting deed—by what means—did the preceptor’s son perform, that all alone in battle he slew all our troops?”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a moral inquiry: extraordinary slaughter in war demands scrutiny of the means and the ‘appropriateness’ (yukta) of the act. It invites evaluation of whether effectiveness in battle can be called fitting when it results in indiscriminate destruction.
Vaiśampāyana reports a question about how the preceptor’s son, Aśvatthāman, managed to kill the entire opposing force single-handedly. The line sets up an explanation of the method behind the devastating killings associated with the Sauptika (night-raid) episode.