Shloka 73
Sauptika Parva, Adhyaya 8 — Dhṛṣṭadyumna-vadha and the Camp’s Nocturnal Rout
यतः प्रभृति संग्राम: कुरुपाण्डवसेनयो: । ततः प्रभृति तां कन्यामपश्यन् द्रौणिमेव च
yataḥ prabhṛti saṅgrāmaḥ kurupāṇḍavaseanayoḥ | tataḥ prabhṛti tāṃ kanyām apaśyan drauṇim eva ca ||
સંજય બોલ્યો—કૌરવ અને પાંડવ સેનાઓ વચ્ચેનો યુદ્ધ આરંભ થયો ત્યારથી જ તે કન્યા (કાલરાત્રિ) દેખાઈ નહીં; અને દ્રોણપુત્ર (અશ્વત્થામા) પણ દેખાયો નહીં.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how war produces lasting moral and social rupture: once violence is unleashed, people vanish from the moral and physical order—some through death, some through flight, and some through secretive wrongdoing—leaving uncertainty and grief in its wake.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that from the very beginning of the Kuru–Pāṇḍava war, a certain maiden was no longer seen, and likewise Droṇa’s son Aśvatthāmā was not seen—indicating their absence from view and setting up the surrounding events of the Sauptika episode.