Shloka 15
शकुनिवधः — Sahadeva’s Slaying of Śakuni
with Ulūka’s fall
मद्रराजो हतः शल्यो हतः कृष्ण जयद्रथ: । “श्रीकृष्ण! भीष्म मारे जा चुके, द्रोणका भी अन्त हो गया, वैकर्तन कर्ण भी मार डाला गया, मद्रराज शल्यका भी वध हो गया और जयद्रथ भी यमलोक पहुँच गया ।। श्रीकृष्ण दुर्योधनकी ओर संकेत करते हुए उसे मारनेके लिये अर्जुनको प्रेरित कर रहे हैं हया: पञ्चशता: शिष्टा: शकुने: सौबलस्य च,“सुबलपुत्र शकुनिके पास पाँच सौ घुड़सवारोंकी सेना अभी शेष है। जनार्दन! उसके पास दो सौ रथ, सौसे कुछ अधिक हाथी और तीन हजार पैदल सैनिक भी शेष रह गये हैं
sañjaya uvāca |
madra-rājo hataḥ śalyo hataḥ kṛṣṇo jayadrathaḥ |
hayāḥ pañcaśatāḥ śiṣṭāḥ śakuneḥ saubalasya ca |
Sañjaya said: “The king of Madra, Śalya, has been slain; Jayadratha too has been killed. And of Śakuni, the son of Subala, five hundred horsemen still remain.” In the moral atmosphere of the war-report, Sañjaya’s terse tally of deaths and remaining forces underscores the inexorable consequences of adharma-driven choices and the collapsing support-system of Duryodhana’s side as the battle nears its end.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse functions as a moral-tinged battlefield bulletin: as principal supporters of an adharma-aligned cause fall one by one, the narrative highlights how unrighteous strategy and obstinacy lead to isolation and ruin, even when some forces still remain.
Sañjaya informs Dhṛtarāṣṭra that Śalya and Jayadratha are dead and notes that Śakuni still has five hundred cavalry remaining—an update that signals the rapid depletion of the Kaurava coalition late in the war.