Shloka 63
धृतराष्ट्र-संजय-संवादः — दुर्योधनस्य ह्रदप्रवेशः
Dhṛtarāṣṭra–Saṃjaya Dialogue: Duryodhana’s Entry into the Lake
स तच्छिरो वेगवता शरेण सुवर्णपुडुखेन शिलाशितेन । प्रावेरयत् कुपित: पाण्डुपुत्रो यत्तत् कुरूणामनयस्य मूलम्
sa tacchiro vegavatā śareṇa suvarṇapuṅkhena śilāśitena | prāverayat kupitaḥ pāṇḍuputro yat tat kurūṇām anayasya mūlam ||
Sañjaya said: Enraged, the son of Pāṇḍu—Sahadeva—shot a swift arrow, stone-honed and fitted with golden feathers, and struck down that head—Śakuni’s—who had been the root cause of the Kurus’ ruin through injustice and deceit. In that moment the war rendered its moral reckoning: the architect of adharma met the consequence of the harm he had set in motion.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames Śakuni as the ‘root of the Kurus’ calamity,’ highlighting an ethical principle central to the Mahābhārata: sustained deceit and the deliberate engineering of adharma eventually return as ruin, and the war functions as a grim arena of moral consequence.
Sañjaya reports that Sahadeva, in anger, shoots a swift, stone-honed arrow with golden feathers and brings down Śakuni’s head—depicting Śakuni’s fall as the elimination of a principal instigator of the Kuru catastrophe.