Shloka 13
शल्यपर्वणि प्रथमाध्यायः — Karṇa-vadha-anantaraṃ Śalya-niyogaḥ, Saṃjayasya Dhṛtarāṣṭra-nivedanam
तस्मिन् हते महेष्वासे हतशिष्टास्त्रयो रथा: । संरम्भान्निशि राजेन्द्र जघ्नु: पांचालसोमकान्
tasmin hate maheṣvāse hataśiṣṭās trayo rathāḥ | saṃrambhān niśi rājendra jaghnuḥ pāñcālasomakān ||
Vaiśampāyana said: When that great archer had been slain, the three surviving chariot-warriors—Kripācārya, Kṛtavarmā, and Aśvatthāmā—driven by furious rage, struck down the Pāñcālas and the Somakas in the night while they lay asleep. The verse shows how grief and wrath, unrestrained by dharma, turn both victory and defeat into moral collapse, as violence spills beyond the battlefield and breaches warrior ethics.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how saṃrambha (blind rage) can override dharma: once restraint and warrior codes collapse, violence extends to the helpless (sleeping foes), turning warfare into moral transgression with lasting karmic and social consequences.
After the fall of the principal hero (understood here as Duryodhana), only three notable chariot-warriors remain—Kṛpa, Kṛtavarmā, and Aśvatthāmā—and, inflamed with anger, they kill the Pāñcāla and Somaka warriors at night while they are asleep.