Shloka 28
शल्यपर्वणि प्रथमाध्यायः — Karṇa-vadha-anantaraṃ Śalya-niyogaḥ, Saṃjayasya Dhṛtarāṣṭra-nivedanam
प्राच्या हता महाराज दाक्षिणात्याश्व सर्वश:ः । उदीच्याश्न हता:ः सर्वे प्रतीच्याक्ष नरोत्तमा:
prācyā hatā mahārāja dākṣiṇātyāś ca sarvaśaḥ | udīcyāś ca hatāḥ sarve pratīcyāś ca narottamāḥ ||
毗湿摩波耶那说道：“大王啊，东方之兵已尽被杀；南方之众已遭彻底毁灭；北方之人无一幸免，西方诸杰亦皆被诛。”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the comprehensive, direction-spanning ruin caused by war: when conflict is driven by adharma and unchecked violence, it consumes all communities alike, sparing neither the ordinary nor the ‘best of men’ (narottamāḥ).
Vaiśampāyana reports to the king that fighters from every quarter—east, south, north, and west—have been killed, conveying the scale of slaughter and the near-total depletion of warriors across regions.