Shloka 153
उपायैः पूर्ववधकथनम् / Strategic Justifications for Prior Eliminations
इस प्रकार श्रीमह्ाभारत द्रोणपर्वके अन्तर्गत घटोत्कचवधपर्वमें रात्रिकालिक युद्धके प्रसंगमें दुर्योधन-पराजयविषयक एक सौ तिरपनवाँ अध्याय पूरा हुआ
Iti prakāraḥ Śrīmahābhārate Droṇaparvaṇi antargate Ghaṭotkacavadhaparvaṇi rātrikālikayuddhaprasaṅge Duryodhana-parājaya-viṣayaka ekaśatatriṃśattama-adhyāyaḥ pūrṇaḥ.
Thus, in the Śrī Mahābhārata, within the Droṇa Parva—specifically in the section on the slaying of Ghaṭotkaca—during the episode of the night-time battle, the one-hundred-and-fifty-third chapter, dealing with Duryodhana’s defeat, comes to an end.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
As a colophon-like closing, the line underscores the epic’s ethical framing of war: outcomes such as defeat are presented as meaningful narrative markers within a larger dharma-centered history, reminding the reader that battlefield success and failure are transient and morally consequential.
This is a concluding statement indicating that a chapter has ended: within Droṇa Parva, in the Ghaṭotkaca-slaying section, during the night-battle episode, the chapter whose topic is Duryodhana’s defeat is completed.