Shloka 50
Adhyāya 33: Rauhiṇeya (Balarāma) is welcomed and takes his seat to witness the gadā-engagement
अवशिष्टस्त्वमेवैक: कुलघ्नो5धमपूरुष: । त्वामप्यद्य हनिष्यामि गदया नात्र संशय:,“अब इस वंशका नाश करनेवाला नराधम एकमात्र तू ही बच गया है। आज इस गदासे तुझे भी मार डालूगा; इसमें संशय नहीं है
avaśiṣṭas tvam evaikaḥ kulaghno 'dhamapūruṣaḥ | tvām apy adya haniṣyāmi gadayā nātra saṃśayaḥ ||
Sanjaya said: “You alone remain—an ignoble man, a destroyer of your own lineage. Today I will strike you down as well with this mace; of that there is no doubt.” The line conveys the moral outrage of a survivor’s reckoning: the speaker frames the opponent not merely as an enemy in battle, but as one who has violated kinship and social order, making his death appear as a grim act of retributive justice within the war’s ethical collapse.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how war is judged not only by victory but by moral transgression: being labeled kulaghna (“destroyer of one’s lineage”) marks a grave ethical breach. The speaker’s certainty of punishment (“no doubt”) reflects the Mahabharata’s recurring theme that adharma invites inevitable retribution, even amid the chaos of battle.
In the Shalya Parva’s climactic mace-fight context, a combatant is taunted and condemned as the last remaining ‘vile’ survivor responsible for the ruin of a family line. The speaker vows to kill him with a mace immediately, emphasizing finality and the personal, accusatory tone typical of the war’s endgame confrontations.