Shloka 513
ब्राह्मणपूजा-राजधर्मः | Royal Duty of Honoring Learned Brahmins
अस्येदानीं वधादद्य भविष्याम्यनृण: पितु: । इतना ही नहीं
asyedānīṁ vadhād adya bhaviṣyāmy anṛṇaḥ pituḥ |
ভীষ্ম ক’লে— “আজি তাক বধ কৰিলে মই অৱশেষত পিতৃঋণৰ পৰা উঋণ হ’ম। কেৱল সেয়াই নহয়—তাৰ পুত্ৰসকলে কাশী-প্ৰদেশৰ সমগ্ৰ ৰাজ্য উজাৰি পেলাইছে আৰু সঞ্চিত ৰত্নভাণ্ডাৰ লুণ্ঠন কৰিছে। অহংকাৰত মত্ত সেই ৰজাৰ শত পুত্ৰক মই ইতিমধ্যে বধ কৰিছোঁ; এতিয়া কেৱল এইসকলেই বাকী। এতিয়া ইহঁতকো বধ কৰিলে কি মই পিতাৰ ঋণৰ পৰা মুক্ত হ’ম?”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage frames violence within the moral language of ṛṇa (obligation): Bhīṣma interprets his duty to his father as a binding debt that can be ‘discharged’ through decisive action. It highlights the tension between personal vows/filial duty and the ethical weight of killing, especially when justified as restoring order after plunder and arrogance.
Bhīṣma speaks about completing an act of retribution: after the king’s sons have ravaged Kāśī and looted treasures, he claims to have already killed a hundred of them, with only a few remaining. He considers killing the rest ‘today’ so that he may become anṛṇa—free of his debt to his father.