Shloka 54
ततः स नरशार्दूल: प्रतिविन्धयं महाहवे । कुक्षिदेशेडवधीद् राजन् स हतो न्यपतद् भुवि,उस बलवान वीरने द्रौपदीके पुत्रोंपर आक्रमण करके उन्हें खड़्गसे छिन्न-भिन्न कर दिया। राजन! उस समय पुरुषसिंह अश्वत्थामाने उस महासमरमें प्रतिविन्ध्यको उसकी कोखमें तलवार भोंककर मार डाला। वह मरकर पृथ्वीपर गिर पड़ा
tataḥ sa naraśārdūlaḥ prativindhyaṁ mahāhave | kukṣideśe 'vadhīd rājan sa hato nyapatad bhuvi ||
Sañjaya said: Then that tiger among men—Aśvatthāmā—slew Prativindhya in the great battle. O King, striking him in the region of the belly with his sword, he killed him, and the slain warrior fell upon the earth.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how vengeance and rage in war can eclipse dharma: the killing is described with stark physicality, pointing to the moral collapse of a night-raid where compassion and the codes of fair combat are cast aside.
Sañjaya reports to King Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Aśvatthāmā, in the course of the Sauptika episode, stabs Prativindhya in the abdomen with a sword, killing him; the slain warrior falls to the ground.