Mahabharata — Shalya Parva, Shloka 19
Bhīma–Duryodhana Gadāyuddha Saṃkalpa
Resolve for the Mace Duel
अद्यानण्यं गमिष्यामि क्षत्रियाणां यशस्विनाम्
sañjaya uvāca | adyānanyaṃ gamiṣyāmi kṣatriyāṇāṃ yaśasvinām | etāvad uktvā vacanaṃ virarāma janādhipaḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “Today I shall go to the other world, having repaid my debt to those illustrious kṣatriyas.” Having spoken only this much, the lord of men fell silent. (In context, Duryodhana frames his resolve to kill and be killed as a ‘repayment’ to revered warriors and kin—revealing the war-ethic of obligation and honor, even as it tragically narrows dharma to vengeance and debt.)
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a warrior’s ethic where honor is conceived as ‘repaying debts’ to one’s peers and elders through battle, even unto death—showing how notions of obligation can harden into fatalistic resolve when detached from broader dharma.
Sañjaya reports that the king (Duryodhana) declares he will meet death that very day, imagining it as a repayment to illustrious kṣatriyas; after saying this much, he stops speaking and falls silent.
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