Shloka 17
Abhimanyu’s Śrāddha; Vyāsa’s Assurance of the Unborn Heir (अभिमन्योः श्राद्धं तथा गर्भरक्षणोपदेशः)
निहत्य पृथिवीपालान् सहस्रशतसंघश:
nihatya pṛthivīpālān sahasraśatasaṅghaśaḥ
Vaiśampāyana disse: Tendo abatido os governantes da terra em grupos de centenas e milhares, (ele/eles) prosseguiram—imagem de conquista avassaladora que, ao mesmo tempo, ressalta o sombrio peso moral de uma vitória obtida por violência em massa.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The line highlights the scale of warfare and conquest and implicitly raises the ethical burden of kingship: victory and political order often come at the cost of immense bloodshed, inviting reflection on dharma, restraint, and the consequences of violence.
The narrator describes a campaign or sequence of battles in which numerous kings are killed in large numbers—"by hundreds and thousands"—conveying the magnitude of conflict within the Ashvamedhika Parva’s post-war political consolidation.