Shloka 35
Sauptika Parva, Adhyaya 8 — Dhṛṣṭadyumna-vadha and the Camp’s Nocturnal Rout
तमप्याक्रम्य पादेन कण्ठे चोरसि तेजसा
tam apy ākramya pādena kaṇṭhe corasi tejasā
Sañjaya said: He too was struck down—trampled with a foot—at the throat and on the chest, with overpowering force. The scene underscores the brutal excesses that follow when war slips into vengeance, where victory is pursued not by restraint but by crushing domination.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how, in the aftermath of war, unchecked rage can turn into degrading violence. It implicitly contrasts kṣatriya ideals of measured combat with acts driven by vengeance, warning that power (tejas) without restraint tends toward adharma.
Sañjaya narrates a moment of physical overpowering: a victim is subdued by being stepped on at the throat and chest. It belongs to the grim Sauptika sequence, where night-time killings and ruthless methods intensify the moral darkness of the conflict’s end.