Shloka 67
अर्जुनस्य प्रतिघातः — श्रुताय्वच्युतायुवधः तथा गजसैन्यविदारणम्
Arjuna’s Counterstroke: Slaying of Śrutāyu and Acyutāyu; Breaking the Elephant Corps
इस प्रकार श्रीमह्ाभारत द्रोणपर्वके अन्तर्गत अभिमनन््युवधपर्वमें षोडशराजकीयो- पाख्यानविषयक सरसठवाँ अध्याय पूरा हुआ
iti prakāraṁ śrīmahābhārate droṇaparvake antargata abhimanyuvadhaparvaṇi ṣoḍaśarājakīyopākhyānaviṣayakaḥ saptāṣaṣṭitamo 'dhyāyaḥ pūrṇaḥ
Thus ends the sixty-eighth chapter of the Śrī Mahābhārata in the Droṇa Parvan, within the section on the slaying of Abhimanyu, dealing with the episode concerning the sixteen kings. The narration here closes a thematic unit that frames the war’s unfolding not merely as combat, but as a moral and political catastrophe involving many rulers and their choices.
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
As a colophon-style conclusion, the verse primarily teaches attentiveness to textual structure: episodes are framed and closed to highlight that the war’s events involve collective responsibility—many rulers and their decisions—rather than isolated heroics.
This is an end-of-chapter marker stating that the sixty-eighth chapter in the Droṇa Parvan—within the Abhimanyu-slaying section—has concluded, and that its subject was an upākhyāna (subsidiary episode) connected with sixteen kings.