Shloka 186
Sauptika Parva, Adhyaya 8 — Dhṛṣṭadyumna-vadha and the Camp’s Nocturnal Rout
नदन्तं विस्फुरन्तं च पशुमारममारयत् । राजन! उसने पैरसे उसकी छाती और गला दोनोंको दबा दिया और उसे पशुकी तरह मारना आरम्भ किया। वह बेचारा चीखता और छटपटाता रह गया
nadantaṃ visphurantaṃ ca paśum āramamārayat | rājan! asne pādaiḥ tasya chātīṃ ca galaṃ ca ubhayaṃ pīḍayitvā taṃ paśuvat hantum ārabdhavān; sa tu dīnaḥ krośan vikṣipya caiva vyathitaḥ
Sañjaya said: “He, though roaring and convulsing, was slain like a beast. O King, pressing down with his feet upon the man’s chest and throat, he began to kill him as one would an animal. The wretch could only cry out and writhe in agony.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how, when dharma and self-restraint collapse in war’s aftermath, violence becomes dehumanizing—treating a person ‘like an animal’—and thus signals an ethical descent (adharma) rather than heroic conduct.
Sanjaya describes a brutal killing: the victim cries and convulses while the attacker pins him down by pressing on his chest and throat with his feet and kills him in a beast-like manner, reporting this to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra.