भूयश् चापि निबोध त्वं तवापनयजं क्षयम् ॥
एकत्रिंशत् तव सुता भीमसेनेन पातिताः ॥
दुर्मुखं प्रमुखे कृत्वा सततं चित्रयोधिनम् ॥
शतशो निहताः शूराः सात्वतेनार्जुनेन च ॥
भीष्मं प्रमुखतः कृत्वा भगदत्तं च मारिष ॥
एवम् एष क्षयो वृत्तो राजन् दुर्मन्त्रिते तव ॥
bhūyaś cāpi nibodha tvaṃ tavāpanayajaṃ kṣayam ||
ekatriṃśat tava sutā bhīmasenena pātitāḥ ||
durmukhaṃ pramukhe kṛtvā satataṃ citrayodhinam ||
śataśo nihatāḥ śūrāḥ sātvatenārjunena ca ||
bhīṣmaṃ pramukhataḥ kṛtvā bhagadattaṃ ca māriṣa ||
evam eṣa kṣayo vṛtto rājan durmantrite tava ||
"And further hear from me the destruction born of your wrongdoing. Thirty-one of your sons have been felled by Bhimasena. Placing Durmukha, ever skillful in battle, at their head — hundreds of heroes were slain by Satvata [Satyaki] and Arjuna. Placing Bhishma and Bhagadatta at the front, O worthy one — thus has this destruction come to pass, O king, through your evil counsel."
af54ee7f25ed · published Jul 19, 2026, 4:31:38 PM UTC
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Sanjaya closes the chapter with a sorrowful reckoning: thirty-one sons, hundreds of heroes, Bhishma, Bhagadatta — all of it "through your evil counsel." It is telling that he traces the war's outcome not to the valor of the victors but to the guilt of the one who allowed it. The verse teaches that the count of the fallen is also a count of responsibility; and he who had the power to avert the strife, yet indulged it, bears before conscience and history the weight of each of these lives.