Mahabharata — Shalya Parva, Shloka 80
द्वैपायनह्रदे दुर्योधनान्वेषणम् / The Search for Duryodhana at Dvaipāyana Lake
हताश्न कुरव: सर्वे भीष्मद्रोणपुर:सरा: । अहमेको विमुक्तस्तु भाग्ययोगाद् यदृच्छया,'भीष्म और द्रोणाचार्य जिनके अगुआ थे, वे समस्त कौरव मारे गये। अकस्मात् भाग्य- योगसे अकेला मैं ही बच गया हूँ
sañjaya uvāca | hatāśn kuravaḥ sarve bhīṣma-droṇa-puraḥsarāḥ | aham eko vimuktas tu bhāgya-yogād yadṛcchayā ||
Sañjaya said: All the Kurus have been slain—those who had Bhīṣma and Droṇa at their head. By a strange turn of fate, by the conjunction of destiny and sheer happenstance, I alone have escaped.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the moral and existential lesson that martial strength and revered leadership (even figures like Bhīṣma and Droṇa) cannot ultimately protect an adharma-aligned enterprise; outcomes unfold under the complex play of destiny and contingency, and survival itself may be ethically neutral—an accident of fate rather than a reward.
Sañjaya reports to the blind king Dhṛtarāṣṭra the catastrophic end of the Kaurava side: the entire Kuru host, led by Bhīṣma and Droṇa, has been destroyed, and Sañjaya states that he alone has escaped, attributing it to fate and chance.