Shloka 32
Subhadrā-vilāpaḥ — Subhadrā’s Lament for Abhimanyu
Droṇa-parva 55
दस्यवश्व तदान्योन्यं जघ्नुर्मूर्ता विचेतस: । हत्वा परस्परं नष्टा: कुमार चाद्भुतं भुवि
dasyavaś ca tadānyonyaṁ jaghnur mūḍhā vicetasaḥ | hatvā parasparaṁ naṣṭāḥ kumāra cādbhutaṁ bhuvi ||
Vyāsa said: Then those lawless men, deluded and bereft of discernment, began to strike down one another. Having slain each other in mutual violence, they perished—O prince—and this was a wondrous (and dreadful) spectacle upon the earth. The passage underscores how, when dharma and clear judgment are abandoned, violence turns inward and becomes self-destruction.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
When discernment (cetas) is lost and adharma prevails, violence does not remain controlled or purposeful; it turns mutual and ultimately destroys its own agents. The verse presents ethical causality: delusion leads to reciprocal harm and ruin.
Vyāsa describes a scene where lawless fighters (dasyavaḥ), overcome by confusion, attack one another. The result is mutual killing and their complete destruction, which is portrayed as an astonishing event witnessed on earth.