Shloka 154
उपायैः पूर्ववधकथनम् / Strategic Justifications for Prior Eliminations
इति श्रीमहाभारते द्रोणपर्वणि घटोत्कचवधपर्वणि रात्रियुद्धे चतुष्पड्चाशदधिकशततमोड्ध्याय:
iti śrīmahābhārate droṇaparvaṇi ghaṭotkacavadhaparvaṇi rātriyuddhe catuṣpaṇcāśad-adhikaśatatamo 'dhyāyaḥ
かくして『シュリー・マハーバーラタ』、ドローナ・パルヴァのうち—とりわけガトートカチャ討伐と夜戦を述べる段—ここに第百五十六章は結了する。奥書はこの場面を、道義の重みを帯びた転機として示す。戦は昼の光を越えて夜の合戦へと及び、異例の手段と激化する暴力が、争いの倫理的地平を塗り替えてゆくのである。
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
As a colophon, the verse does not teach through direct instruction; it frames the episode’s ethical weight by naming it as the slaying of Ghaṭotkaca and a night-battle. The implied lesson is that when war crosses into the night and relies on exceptional tactics, the struggle intensifies and the boundaries of righteous conduct (dharma) become harder to maintain.
This is the chapter-ending colophon: it signals that the account belongs to the Droṇa Parva, within the episode of Ghaṭotkaca’s death, set amid the night-fighting, and it closes the 156th chapter.