Shloka 85
अध्याय ८८ — घटोत्कच-दुर्योधनयुद्धवर्णनम्
Ghaṭotkaca–Duryodhana Engagement
इति श्रीमहाभारते भीष्मपर्वणि भीष्मवधपर्वणि सप्तमयुद्धदिवसे पज्चाशीतितमो<ध्याय:
iti śrīmahābhārate bhīṣmaparvaṇi bhīṣmavadhaparvaṇi saptamayuddhadivase pañcāśītitamo 'dhyāyaḥ
Thus, in the revered Mahābhārata, within the Bhīṣma Parva—specifically in the section concerning the slaying of Bhīṣma—on the seventh day of the great war, ends the eighty-fifth chapter. This closing colophon frames the narrative as part of the moral and historical record of the Kurukṣetra conflict, marking the progression of time and the grave movement toward Bhīṣma’s fall.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
This is a colophon rather than a doctrinal verse: it teaches attentiveness to context—how events are situated within a larger moral history. By marking the war-day and section, it underscores that actions in war unfold in time and consequence, a key ethical lens of the epic.
The text is closing a chapter and identifying its placement: Bhīṣma Parva, within the Bhīṣma-slaying section, on the seventh day of the Kurukṣetra war, concluding the eighty-fifth chapter.