Shloka 4
अन्ये च बहवो वीरा: संग्रामे मधुसूदन । निहता: कौरवै: संख्ये तथास्माभिश्न॒ कौरवा:
anye ca bahavo vīrāḥ saṅgrāme madhusūdana | nihatāḥ kauravaiḥ saṅkhye tathāsmābhiś ca kauravāḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “And many other heroes too, O Madhusūdana, were slain in the battle—some by the Kauravas in the thick of combat, and likewise many Kauravas by us. Thus the war’s ‘victory’ is stained on both sides by mutual destruction, revealing the grim moral cost of fratricidal conflict.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even when war is pursued under claims of duty, its reality is reciprocal slaughter; the verse underscores the ethical gravity and shared human cost of violence, especially in a fratricidal struggle.
Sañjaya reports to Kṛṣṇa (addressed as Madhusūdana) that many warriors have fallen on both sides—heroes killed by the Kauravas and Kauravas killed by the opposing force—summarizing the heavy casualties of the ongoing battle.