Shloka 35
“आज रातमें मैं शीघ्र ही पांचालराज धृष्टद्युम्मके सिरको पशुके मस्तककी भाँति बलपूर्वक मरोड़ डालूँगा ।। अद्य पाज्चालपाण्डूनां शयितानात्मजान् निशि | खड्गेन निशितेनाजौ प्रमथिष्यामि गौतम,“गौतम! आज रातके युद्धमें सोये हुए पांचालों और पाण्डवोंके पुत्रोंको भी मैं अपनी तीखी तलवारसे टूक-टूक कर दूँगा
adya rātrāṃ mayā śīghraṃ pāñcālarāja-dhṛṣṭadyumnasya śiraḥ paśu-mastakasya bhānti balapūrvakaṃ maroḍayiṣyate | adya pāñcāla-pāṇḍūnāṃ śayitān ātmajān niśi khaḍgena niśitenājau pramathiṣyāmi, gautama |
Sañjaya reports the grim resolve voiced in the camp: “Tonight, without delay, I will wrench off the head of Dhṛṣṭadyumna, king of the Pāñcālas, as one twists off the head of a beast. And tonight, in the midst of battle, I will hack to pieces with my sharpened sword the sleeping sons of the Pāñcālas and of the Pāṇḍavas.” The verse frames a deliberate turn from open combat to nocturnal slaughter of the defenseless, highlighting a collapse of warrior-ethics and the escalation of vengeance beyond dharmic limits.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how vengeance can drive warriors to abandon dharma: killing sleeping, unarmed targets is portrayed as a grave ethical transgression, marking a shift from righteous battle to adharma.
Sañjaya reports a vow to kill Dhṛṣṭadyumna and to slaughter the sleeping sons of the Pāñcālas and Pāṇḍavas during the night—foreshadowing the infamous nocturnal attack central to the Sauptika Parva.