Shloka 25
शल्यपर्व — चतुर्विंशोऽध्यायः | Śalya Parva, Chapter 24: Disruption of Kaurava Formations and the Elephant Encirclement
अल्पावशिटष्टे सैन्येडस्मिन् सूतपुत्रे च पातिते । सपुत्रे वै नरव्याप्रे नैवाशाम्यत वैशसम्,'पुत्रसहित नरश्रेष्ठ सूतपुत्रके मार गिराये जानेपर जब कौरव-सेना थोड़ी-सी ही बच रही थी तो भी यह युद्धकी आग नहीं बुझी
sañjaya uvāca |
alpāvaśiṣṭe sainye 'smin sūtaputre ca pātite |
saputre vai naravyāghre naivāśāmyata vaiśasam ||
Sanjaya said: Even when only a small remnant of this army remained, and even after the charioteer’s son had been struck down—along with the tiger-like hero and his son—the slaughter did not subside. The war’s violence, once unleashed, refused to be quenched, showing how vengeance and grief can keep destruction burning even when the cause seems already decided.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how violence, once set in motion by rage, grief, and vengeance, can continue beyond strategic necessity; ethical restraint (dharma) becomes hardest precisely when losses are greatest, yet that is when it is most needed.
Sanjaya reports to Dhritarashtra that despite the Kaurava forces being reduced to a small remainder and despite the fall of the ‘sūtaputra’ (commonly Karna) and other leading warriors (described as ‘tiger among men’ along with his son), the carnage of battle still did not calm down.