Shloka 103
भीष्मरथाभिमुख्यं — Arjuna’s advance with Śikhaṇḍin; Duḥśāsana’s interception
इति श्रीमहाभारते भीष्मपर्वणि भीष्मवधपर्वणि संकुलयुद्धे उयधिकशततमो ध्याय:,इस प्रकार श्रीमह्या भारत भीष्मपर्वके अन्तर्गत भीष्मवधपर्वमें घमासान युद्धविषयक एक सौ तीसरा अध्याय पूरा हुआ
iti śrīmahābhārate bhīṣmaparvaṇi bhīṣmavadhaparvaṇi saṅkulayuddhe tryadhikaśatatamo 'dhyāyaḥ |
Sañjaya concludes: Thus, in the Śrī Mahābhārata, within the Bhīṣma Parva—specifically the section on the slaying of Bhīṣma—ends the one-hundred-and-third chapter, describing the fierce and confused clash of battle. The colophon frames the episode as part of the larger moral narrative of the war, marking a formal pause in the account of violence and its grave consequences.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
This verse is a colophon rather than a doctrinal statement: it teaches through form—marking the end of a chapter in the war narrative and reminding the reader that the violent events are embedded in a larger ethical history (itihāsa) where actions in battle carry moral weight and consequences.
Sañjaya formally closes the chapter, stating that the one-hundred-and-third chapter has ended within the Bhīṣma Parva, in the sub-section dealing with Bhīṣma’s fall, and that the chapter’s subject is the intense, chaotic fighting (saṅkula-yuddha).