Shloka 27
Svargārohaṇa-parva Adhyāya 5 — Karmaphala-Nirdeśa and Phalāśruti (कर्मफलनिर्देशः फलश्रुतिश्च)
हतास्तस्मिन् महायुद्धे ये वीरास्तु महारथा: । घटोत्कचादयश्चैव देवान् यक्षांश्ष॒ भेजिरे,इस प्रकार उस महाभारत नामक महायुद्धमें जो-जो वीर महारथी घटोत्कच आदि मारे गये थे वे देवताओं और यक्षोंके लोकोंमें गये
hatās tasmin mahāyuddhe ye vīrās tu mahārathāḥ | ghaṭotkacādayaś caiva devān yakṣāṁś ca bhejire ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Those heroic great chariot-warriors who were slain in that mighty war—Ghaṭotkaca and others—attained the worlds of the gods and the Yakṣas. The narrative underscores that even amid the devastation of war, the fallen are accorded their due posthumous destiny according to their nature and merit.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse affirms a moral-cosmic order in which the fallen heroes of the great war are not portrayed as annihilated but as reaching appropriate higher realms—suggesting that valor and one’s inherent disposition (and accrued merit) bear fruit beyond death.
Vaiśampāyana states that the great warriors who died in the Mahābhārata war—specifically mentioning Ghaṭotkaca among others—departed to the worlds of the gods and the Yakṣas, marking their posthumous transition to exalted realms.