Shloka 26
Kṣātra-dharma in Campaign and Battle: Protection, Purification, and the Ideal Warrior’s End (क्षात्रधर्मः—अभियानयुद्धे रक्षणदानशुद्धिः)
इदं दुःखं महत् कष्ट पापीय इति निष्टनन् । प्रतिध्वस्तमुख: पूतिरमात्याननुशोचयन्
idaṃ duḥkhaṃ mahat kaṣṭa pāpīya iti niṣṭanan | pratidhvastamukhaḥ pūtir amātyān anuśocayan |
ভীষ্ম ক’লে—“ই মহাদুখ, ই ঘোৰ যন্ত্ৰণা; নিশ্চয়েই ই কোনো গুৰুপাপৰ সূচক”—এদৰে আৰ্তনাদ কৰা; মুখ বিকৃত কৰি নত কৰা; দেহত দুৰ্গন্ধ লৈ আমাত্যসকলৰ বাবে নিৰন্তৰ শোক কৰা—এনে মৃত্যু স্বাভিমানী বীৰৰ যোগ্য নহয়।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma teaches that a noble person—especially a self-respecting warrior—should meet suffering and death with steadiness, not with self-pitying lamentation, obsessive fear, or repeated wishing for death; dignity, restraint, and courage are ethical ideals even in illness.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction-setting, Bhīṣma describes an undignified response to sickness and impending death—wailing, becoming disfigured in expression, neglecting oneself, and grieving for one’s ministers—then condemns such a death as unworthy of a proud hero.