Mahabharata 11.9.18 — Stree Parva, Adhyaya 9, Shloka 18
स्त्रीपर्व — नवमोऽध्यायः | Dhṛtarāṣṭra summons the Kuru women; the city departs in collective lamentation
न यज्ञैर्दक्षिणावद्धिर्न तपोभिरनन विद्यया । तथा स्वर्गमुपायान्ति यथा शूरास्तनुत्यज:
na yajñair dakṣiṇāvaddhir na tapobhir na vidyayā | tathā svargam upāyānti yathā śūrās tanutyajaḥ ||
قال فَيْشَمْبايَنَة: ليس بالقرابين المصحوبة بعطايا وافرة للكهنة، ولا بالزهد والتقشّف، ولا بالعلم، يبلغ الناسُ السماءَ كما يبلغها الأبطالُ الذين يطرحون أجسادهم في ساحة القتال.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that heroic self-sacrifice—giving up one’s life with valor in a righteous context—is portrayed as an exceptionally potent means of attaining heaven, even more immediately efficacious than meritorious rituals with gifts, austerities, or learning.
In Strī Parva’s lamentation-filled aftermath of the war, Vaiśampāyana articulates a consolatory and evaluative principle: despite the immense grief, the fallen warriors who relinquished their bodies as heroes are said to attain heaven in a way that ordinary religious merits cannot match.
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