Shloka 44
तस्माच्छिरश्छिन्धि ममेदमद्य कुलान्तकस्याधमपूरुषस्य । पापस्य पापव्यसनान्वितस्य विमूढबुद्धेरलसस्य भीरो:
tasmāc chiraś chindhi mamedaṁ adya kulāntakasyādhamapuruṣasya | pāpasya pāpavyasanānvitasyā vimūḍhabuddher alasasya bhīroḥ ||
सञ्जय उवाच—तस्मादद्य ममेदं शिरश्छिन्धि, कुलान्तकस्याधमपूरुषस्य; पापस्य पापव्यसनान्वितस्य, विमूढबुद्धेरलसस्य भीरोः।
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse dramatizes moral accountability: when one recognizes that negligence, delusion, and vice contribute to collective ruin, the appropriate response is remorse and willingness to accept consequences—though the extreme rhetoric of self-punishment also shows how guilt can become self-destructive.
Sañjaya reports a moment of intense self-reproach in the war narrative, where a speaker (as framed by Sañjaya’s narration) denounces himself as a lineage-ruiner and sinner and calls for his head to be cut off, expressing despair and responsibility for the calamity befalling the Kuru house.