Shloka 216
शकुनिवधः — Sahadeva’s Slaying of Śakuni
with Ulūka’s fall
अपनेष्यामि गान्धारं घातयित्वा शितै: शरै: । “आज मैं अत्यन्त कुपित हो गान्धारराज शकुनिको पैने बाणोंसे मरवाकर राजा युधिष्ठिरके दीर्घकालीन जागरणरूपी रोगको दूर कर दूँगा
apaneṣyāmi gāndhāraṃ ghātayitvā śitaiḥ śaraiḥ |
“ତୀକ୍ଷ୍ଣ ଶରଦ୍ୱାରା ଗାନ୍ଧାରରାଜଙ୍କୁ ହତ କରାଇ ମୁଁ ତାଙ୍କୁ ଅପସାରଣ କରିବି।”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames the slaying of a perceived instigator (Śakuni) as a remedy for a king’s moral-psychological suffering (Yudhiṣṭhira’s grief and sleeplessness), highlighting how war rhetoric often moralizes violence as ‘healing’—a tension between righteous duty and anger-driven vengeance.
In the Shalya Parva war setting, Sañjaya reports a resolve to eliminate the Gandhāra ruler Śakuni with sharp arrows, presenting it as a way to end Yudhiṣṭhira’s prolonged distress and wakefulness caused by the burdens of the conflict.