Shloka 38
धृतराष्ट्रविलापः — Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Lament and Inquiry (Śalya-parva, Adhyāya 2)
आवलन्त्यो निहतो यत्र त्रैगर्तक्ष जनाधिप: । संशप्तकाश्न निहता: किमन्यद् भागधेयत:ः,जहाँ बृहद्वल, महाबली मगधनरेश, धनुर्धरोंके आदर्श एवं पराक्रमी उग्रायुध, अवन्तीके राजकुमार, त्रिगर्तनरेश सुशर्मा तथा सम्पूर्ण संशप्तक योद्धा मार डाले गये, वहाँ भाग्यके सिवा दूसरा क्या कारण हो सकता है?
āvalantyo nihato yatra traigartaka-janādhipaḥ | saṁśaptakāś ca nihatāḥ kim anyad bhāgadhayataḥ ||
Where Avalantya has been slain, where the lord of the Trigartas has fallen, and where the Samsaptaka warriors too have been killed—what other cause can there be except destiny? The speaker reads the overwhelming destruction of renowned fighters as proof that human prowess and planning are ultimately overruled by fate.
धघतयाट्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse emphasizes the supremacy of bhāgadhaya (destiny, the allotted outcome) over mere human strength: even famed kings and vowed warriors can be destroyed, so the ultimate determinant is fate shaped by prior causes (karma).
The speaker points to the battlefield outcome—Avalantya, the Trigarta king (Suśarmā), and the Samsaptakas being slain—and argues that such sweeping losses cannot be explained by strategy alone, but by destiny.