Shloka 31
अद्याहं सर्वपञ्चालान् निहत्य च निकृत्य च । अर्दयिष्यामि संदहृष्टो रणे पाण्डुसुतांस्तथा,“आज मैं रणभूमिमें समस्त पांचालोंको मारकर उनके टुकड़े-टुकड़े करके हर्ष और उत्साहसे सम्पन्न हो पाण्डवोंको भी कुचल डालूँगा
sañjaya uvāca | adyāhaṁ sarvapañcālān nihatyā ca nikṛtya ca | ardayiṣyāmi saṁdahṛṣṭo raṇe pāṇḍusutāṁs tathā ||
Sanjaya said: “Today, having slain all the Panchalas—and even mutilated them—I shall, exultant and inflamed with fierce joy, crush the sons of Pandu as well on the battlefield.” The utterance reflects a descent into vengeful cruelty, where victory is sought not merely through combat but through dehumanizing excess, intensifying the adharma that pervades the night-raid context of the Sauptika narrative.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how vengeance can corrupt the warrior code: the speaker’s delight in killing and mutilation signals a shift from regulated combat toward cruelty, marking an ethical collapse (adharma) that the Sauptika episode repeatedly problematizes.
Within the Sauptika Parva’s grim aftermath of Kurukshetra, a vow is voiced to annihilate the Panchalas and then to crush the Pandavas as well, expressing the escalating retaliatory intent that drives the night-raid atmosphere of this section.