Shloka 91
Chapter 23: Śakuni Reports, Kaurava Advance, and Arjuna’s Penetration of the Host
एवमन्योन्यमायत्ता योधा जष्नुर्महाहवे । पितृन् भ्रातृन् वयस्यांश्व पुत्रानपि तथा परे,इस प्रकार उस महायुद्धमें दूसरे-दूसरे योद्धा परस्पर विजयके लिये प्रयत्नशील हो पिता, भाई, मित्र और पुत्रोंका भी वध करने लगे
evam anyonyam āyattā yodhā jajñur mahāhave | pitṝn bhrātṝn vayasyāṁś ca putrān api tathā pare ||
Санджая сказал: «Так, в той великой битве воины — каждый, стремясь одолеть другого, — бросались друг на друга и, когда обе стороны теснили вперёд, убивали даже отцов, братьев, ровесников-друзей и также сыновей».
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the moral catastrophe of war: when victory becomes the sole aim, social and familial bonds collapse, leading to the killing of one’s own kin—an implicit warning about how adharma spreads through unchecked hostility and rivalry.
Sanjaya describes the battlefield condition where combatants on both sides, mutually bent on defeating each other, engage so fiercely that they end up slaying even fathers, brothers, peers, and sons—highlighting the internecine nature of the Kurukṣetra war.