Shloka 1156
Sauptika Parva, Adhyaya 8 — Dhṛṣṭadyumna-vadha and the Camp’s Nocturnal Rout
हस्तिहस्तोपमानूरून् हस्तान् पादांश्व भारत | भारत! उसने आयुधों और भुजबंदोंसहित बहुत-सी भुजाओं तथा मस्तकोंको काट डाला। हाथीकी सूँड़के समान दिखायी देनेवाली जाँघों, हाथों और पैरोंके भी टुकड़े-टुकड़े कर डाले
sañjaya uvāca | hastihastopamān ūrūn hastān pādāṃś ca bhārata | āyudhāni ca bhujabandhāṃś ca saha bahūn bāhūn śirāṃsi ca ciccheda | hastisūṇḍopamānām ūrūṇāṃ hastānāṃ pādānāṃ ca khaṇḍān khaṇḍān vyakṛṇot ||
Sañjaya said: O Bhārata, he hewed down many arms and heads, along with their weapons and armlets. Thighs that looked like an elephant’s trunk, and hands and feet as well, he cut into pieces. The scene underscores the unchecked ferocity of night-war, where the warrior’s prowess turns into indiscriminate slaughter, pressing the ethical tension between victory and the collapse of restraint.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how warfare—especially a night assault—can slide from sanctioned combat into brutal excess, sharpening the Mahābhārata’s ethical question: victory gained through cruelty and loss of restraint corrodes dharma and deepens collective suffering.
Sañjaya describes a warrior’s rampage in the Sauptika episode: many combatants are mutilated—arms, heads, thighs, hands, and feet are cut down along with weapons and ornaments—conveying the terror and indiscriminate nature of the slaughter.