Shloka 33
बृहन्तं सोमदत्तं च सृज्जयांश्व शताधिकान् । राजानं क्षेमधन्वानं विराटद्रुपदौ तथा,राजा दुर्योधन, उनके निन्यानबे महारथी भाई, राजा शल्य, शल, भूरिश्रवा, राजा जयद्रथ, अभिमन्यु, दुःशासन-पुत्र लक्ष्मण, राजा धृष्टकेतु, बृहन्त, सोमदत्त, सौसे भी अधिक सूंजयवीर, राजा क्षेमधन्वा, विराट द्रपद, शिखण्डी, पांचालदेशीय द्रुपदपुत्र धृष्टद्युम्न, युधामन्यु, पराक्रमी उत्तमौजा, कोसलराज बृहद्वल, द्रौपदीके पाँचों पुत्र, सुबलपुत्र शकुनि, अचल, वृषक, राजा भगदत्त, पुत्रोंसहित अमर्षशील वैकर्तन कर्ण, महाधनुर्धर पाँचों केकयराजकुमार, महारथी त्रिगर्त, राक्षसराज घटोत्कच, बकके भाई राक्षसप्रवर अलम्बुष और राजा जलसंध--इनका तथा अन्य बहुतेरे सहस्रों भूपालोंका घीकी धारासे प्रज्वलित हुई अग्नियोंद्वारा उन लोगोंने दाह-कर्म कराया
vaiśampāyana uvāca | bṛhantaṃ somadattaṃ ca sṛñjayāṃś ca śatādhikān | rājānaṃ kṣemadhanvānaṃ virāṭa-drupadau tathā ||
Vaiśampāyana said: They performed the funeral rites—cremations kindled with streams of ghee—for Bṛhanta and Somadatta, for more than a hundred Sṛñjayas, and for King Kṣemadhanvan, as well as for Virāṭa and Drupada. In the ethical atmosphere of the Strī-parvan, this catalogue of the fallen underscores the indiscriminate devastation of war and frames the women’s grief as a moral reckoning with kṣatriya violence and its consequences.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse contributes to the Strī-parvan’s ethical critique of war: even celebrated kings and clans are reduced to names in a funeral list, highlighting impermanence and the heavy moral cost borne by families—especially women—after kṣatriya conflict.
A narrator’s report enumerates prominent fallen warriors and groups for whom the survivors conduct the final rites (cremations), situating the story in the post-battle aftermath where mourning and ritual closure follow the slaughter.