Shloka 10
Chapter 26: Śoka-pratiṣedha, Hata-saṅkhyā, Gati-vibhāga, Pretakārya-ājñā
Restraint of Grief, Count of the Slain, Destinies, and Funerary Directives
अलक्षितानां वीराणां सहस्राणि चतुर्दश । दश चान्यानि राजेन्द्र शतं षष्टिक्ष पडच च,राजेन्द्र! इनके अतिरिक्त चौबीस हजार एक सौ पैंसठ सैनिक लापता है
alakṣitānāṁ vīrāṇāṁ sahasrāṇi caturdaśa | daśa cānyāni rājendra śataṁ ṣaṣṭiḥ pañca ca ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “O best of kings, fourteen thousand valiant warriors are unaccounted for; and besides these, another one hundred and sixty-five (are missing).” In the aftermath of slaughter, he speaks with the sober responsibility of a ruler—counting the lost and acknowledging the human cost that war imposes on a kingdom.
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the ruler’s dharma after war: to face the reality of loss, account for the missing, and acknowledge the moral and human weight of violence rather than treating victory as mere gain.
In the grief-filled aftermath described in Strī Parva, Yudhiṣṭhira reports numbers of warriors who are ‘unseen’ or unaccounted for, indicating the scale of devastation and the ongoing effort to identify the fallen and the missing.