Shloka 17
Abhimanyu’s Śrāddha; Vyāsa’s Assurance of the Unborn Heir (अभिमन्योः श्राद्धं तथा गर्भरक्षणोपदेशः)
निहत्य पृथिवीपालान् सहस्रशतसंघश:
nihatya pṛthivīpālān sahasraśatasaṅghaśaḥ
Setelah menewaskan para penguasa bumi dalam rombongan yang berbilang ribuan dan ratusan, mereka terus maju—gambaran kemenangan yang menggilas, namun sarat beban moral karena diraih lewat kekerasan massal.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The line highlights the scale of warfare and conquest and implicitly raises the ethical burden of kingship: victory and political order often come at the cost of immense bloodshed, inviting reflection on dharma, restraint, and the consequences of violence.
The narrator describes a campaign or sequence of battles in which numerous kings are killed in large numbers—"by hundreds and thousands"—conveying the magnitude of conflict within the Ashvamedhika Parva’s post-war political consolidation.