Shloka 17
Chapter 26: Śoka-pratiṣedha, Hata-saṅkhyā, Gati-vibhāga, Pretakārya-ājñā
Restraint of Grief, Count of the Slain, Destinies, and Funerary Directives
ये त्वत्र निहता राजन्नन्तरायो धन प्रति । यथाकथंचित् पुरुषास्ते गतास्तूत्तरान् कुरून्,राजन्! इनके सिवा, जो लोग इस युद्धकी सीमाके भीतर रहकर जिस किसी भी प्रकारसे मार डाले गये हैं, वे उत्तर कुरुदेशमें जन्म धारण करेंगे
ye tv atra nihatā rājann antarāyo dhana prati | yathākathaṃcit puruṣās te gatās tūttarān kurūn ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “O King, those who were slain here—within the bounds of this battlefield—by whatever means, were not hindered in their attainment of reward; they have gone to be born among the Northern Kurus. In this, the moral emphasis is that death in the sanctioned arena of a righteous war is believed to confer a higher posthumous destiny, irrespective of the particular manner of one’s fall.”
युधिछ्िर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse asserts that those killed within the legitimate bounds of the war are not deprived of their due spiritual ‘reward’; regardless of how they died, they are said to attain an auspicious destiny—symbolized by rebirth among the Northern Kurus.
In the aftermath of the war (Strī Parva context of grief and reflection), Yudhiṣṭhira addresses a king and speaks about the fate of those slain on the battlefield, describing their posthumous destination as Uttara Kuru.