Shloka 28
Aśvatthāmā’s Buddhi-Doctrine and Nocturnal Incursion Resolve (अश्वत्थाम्नः बुद्धिविचारः सौप्तिकसंकल्पश्च)
अद्य तान् सहितानू सर्वान् धृष्टद्युम्नपुरोगमान्
adya tān sahitānū sarvān dhṛṣṭadyumnapurogāmān
Sañjaya said: “Today, all of them together—those who marched with Dhṛṣṭadyumna at their head—…”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a collective fate under a single leader, hinting at how war’s consequences fall upon groups as a whole; it invites reflection on responsibility, leadership, and the moral cost of retaliatory violence that follows the breakdown of dharma.
Sañjaya is describing those warriors who were together under Dhṛṣṭadyumna’s leadership; in the Sauptika context, this points toward the group of Pāṇḍava-aligned fighters who will be spoken of in connection with the night-time slaughter in the camp.