तस्मिन् कोलाहले युद्धे वर्तमाने निशामुखे ॥
अवधीत् समरे पुत्रं पिता भरतसत्तम ॥
पुत्रश् च पितरं मोहात् सखायं च सखा तथा ॥
संबन्धिनं च संबन्धी स्वस्रीयं चापि मातुलः ॥
स्वे स्वान् परे परांश् चापि निजघ्नुर् इतरेतरम् ॥
निर्मर्यादम् अभूद् युद्धं रात्रौ घोरं भयावहम् ॥
tasmin kolāhale yuddhe vartamāne niśāmukhe ||
avadhīt samare putraṃ pitā bharatasattama ||
putraś ca pitaraṃ mohāt sakhāyaṃ ca sakhā tathā ||
saṃbandhinaṃ ca saṃbandhī svasrīyaṃ cāpi mātulaḥ ||
sve svān pare parāṃś cāpi nijaghnur itaretaram ||
nirmaryādam abhūd yuddhaṃ rātrau ghoraṃ bhayāvaham ||
In that clamorous battle, raging as night was ending, the father was killing the son in combat, O best of the Bharatas; and the son the father, in delusion, and friend struck friend, and kinsman struck kinsman, and uncle struck nephew, own men struck their own, foes struck foes -- all smote one another. The battle in that night became lawless, dreadful, and terrifying.
00095c01b21b · published Jul 19, 2026, 4:49:34 PM UTC
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The chapter closes with the image of every bond dissolving: in the darkness a son kills a father, friend strikes friend, uncle strikes nephew -- and the battle is called "lawless," nirmaryada, having lost every boundary. It is telling that the night's darkness lays bare the true nature of any war: it is precisely the erasure of kinship and of law. The verse teaches that strife carried to its limit destroys the very foundations of human order; the night slaughter of Kurukshetra stands as a visible image of what the world becomes when dharma yields its place to blind hatred.