Shloka 16
अध्याय १ — न्यग्रोधवनोपवेशनम् तथा द्रौणिनिश्चयः
Night at the Banyan and Drauṇi’s Resolve
अधर्मेण हते तात पुत्रे दुर्योधने मम । कृतवर्मा कृपो द्रौणि: किमकुर्वत संजय,तात संजय! अब यह बताओ कि मेरे पुत्र दुर्योधनके अधर्मपूर्वक मारे जानेपर कृतवर्मा, कृपाचार्य और अश्व॒त्थामाने क्या किया?
adharmeṇa hate tāta putre duryodhane mama | kṛtavarmā kṛpo drauṇiḥ kim akurvata sañjaya ||
Dhṛtarāṣṭra bertanya: “Wahai Sañjaya, yang kukasihi—tatkala anakku Duryodhana dibunuh dengan cara adharma, apakah yang dilakukan oleh Kṛtavarmā, Kṛpa, dan putera Droṇa (Aśvatthāmā)?”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames the moral crisis of the war’s end: even victory or defeat is judged through the lens of dharma. Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s wording (“slain through adharma”) highlights how perceived unrighteous means intensify grief and provoke further retaliatory choices, setting the ethical tension for the Sauptika events.
After Duryodhana’s death, Dhṛtarāṣṭra questions Sañjaya about the immediate actions of the remaining Kaurava leaders—Kṛtavarmā, Kṛpa, and Aśvatthāmā—thereby transitioning the story into the night-raid episode that follows.