Shloka 31
अम्बोपाख्याने तापसानां विचारः तथा होत्रवाहनस्य उपदेशः
Ambā among ascetics; Hotravāhana directs her to Paraśurāma
धिग् भीष्म घधिक् च मे मन्दं पितरं मूढचेतसम् । येनाहं वीर्यशुल्केन पण्यस्त्रीव प्रचोदिता
dhig bhīṣma gadhik ca me mandaṁ pitaraṁ mūḍhacetasaṁ | yenāhaṁ vīryaśulkena paṇyastrīva pracoditā ||
ভীষ্ম বললেন: “ভীষ্মকে ধিক্—আর ধিক্ আমার সেই মন্দবুদ্ধি, বিবেকহীন পিতাকে। তারই স্থির করা বীর্যের ‘মূল্য’-এর কারণে আমি বিক্রয়যোগ্য নারীর মতো জনসমক্ষে ঠেলে দেওয়া হয়েছি।”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse condemns treating a woman’s marriage as a public contest priced by ‘valor’ and critiques the moral failure of guardianship: when elders commodify a person for political or martial gain, the resulting dishonor and suffering become an ethical stain on both the agent and the authority who sanctioned it.
Bhīṣma voices intense self-blame and also blames his father for having set a ‘bride-price’ based on prowess, which led to a situation where a woman was compelled into a humiliating, public, quasi-commercial exposure—like merchandise—triggering later conflict and grievance central to the epic’s tensions.