Shloka 36
कथं च निहत: पाप: पाउ्चाल्य: पशुवन्मया । शस्त्रेण विजिताललोकान् नाप्नुयादिति मे मति:
kathaṁ ca nihataḥ pāpaḥ pāñcālyaḥ paśuvanmayā | śastreṇa vijitāllokān nāpnuyād iti me matiḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “How could that sinful son of the Pāñcālas—slain by me like a beast—ever attain the meritorious worlds won through weapons? Such is my settled conviction.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical idea that the manner of killing matters: merit-bearing “worlds” are associated with righteous combat, whereas a beast-like killing is viewed as sinful and not a source of heavenly reward.
Sañjaya reports a speaker’s grim resolve: having killed the Pāñcāla prince in a degrading, non-heroic way, he believes the victim should not gain the heavenly realms typically won by warriors through honorable use of weapons.