Chapter 59: Baladeva’s Censure, Keśava’s Restraint, and Yudhiṣṭhira’s Moral Accounting
घातयित्वा वयस्यांश्व भ्रातृनथ पितृंस्तथा । पुत्रान् पौत्रांस्तथा चान्यांस्ततो5सि निधनं गत:,“तुम अपने मित्रों, भाइयों, पितृतुल्य पुरुषों, पुत्रों और पौत्रोंका वध कराकर फिर स्वयं भी मारे गये
ghātayitvā vayasyāṁś ca bhrātṝn atha pitṝṁs tathā | putrān pautrāṁs tathā cānyāṁs tato 'si nidhanaṁ gataḥ ||
Wika ni Sanjaya: “Matapos mong ipapangyari ang pagpaslang sa iyong mga kaibigan, mga kapatid, gayundin sa mga nakatatanda (mga ama at mga lalaking tulad ng ama), at pati sa iyong mga anak at mga apo at iba pa, ikaw man ay sumunod na napasa kapahamakan.”
संजय उवाच
The verse highlights moral causality in warfare: instigating or enabling the killing of one’s own circle—friends, brothers, elders, descendants—leads to ruin. It frames destruction not merely as a battlefield outcome but as an ethical consequence of adharma-driven violence.
Sañjaya, narrating events to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, delivers a pointed summary of a warrior’s fate: after orchestrating the deaths of close relations and others, that person too meets death. The statement functions as a grim reckoning within the Shalya Parva’s war narrative.