Shloka 30
रात्रौ युद्धप्रवृत्तिः — Night Battle Begins; Duryodhana’s Protective Orders for Droṇa
Droṇa-parva 139
शत्रुंजयः शत्रुसहश्रित्रश्चित्रायुधो दृढ: । चित्रसेनो विकर्णश्र सप्तैते विनिपातिता:
sañjaya uvāca | śatruñjayaḥ śatrusahasrī ca citrāyudho dṛḍhaḥ | citraseno vikarṇaś ca saptaite vinipātitāḥ ||
शत्रुंजयः शत्रुसहस्रित्रश्चित्रायुधो दृढः । चित्रसेनो विकर्णश्च सप्तैते विनिपातिताः ॥
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse functions as a stark ethical reminder of war’s irreversibility: even renowned warriors fall, and the narrative tally of deaths highlights the heavy karmic and social cost of a conflict sustained by hostility and pride rather than restraint and reconciliation.
Sañjaya, reporting the battlefield events, lists notable fighters who have been slain—naming Śatruñjaya, Śatrusahasrī, Citrāyudha, Citrasena, and Vikarṇa—concluding that seven in all have fallen in this phase of the Drona Parva fighting.