Shloka 85
Vāsudeva-Māhātmya: Duryodhana’s Inquiry and Bhīṣma’s Theological Account of Keśava
न मे रथी सात्वत कौरवाणां क्रुद्धस्य मुच्येत रणेड्द्य कश्चित् । तस्मादहं गृहा रथाड्रमुग्रं प्राणं हरिष्यामि महाव्रतस्य,'सात्वत वीर! आज कौरव-सेनाका कोई भी रथी क्रोधमें भरे हुए मुझ कृष्णके हाथसे जीवित नहीं छूट सकता। मैं अपना भयंकर चक्र लेकर महान् व्रतधारी भीष्मके प्राण हर लूँगा
sañjaya uvāca |
na me rathī sātvatakauravāṇāṃ kruddhasya mucyeta raṇe ’dya kaścit |
tasmād ahaṃ gṛhya rathāgram ugraṃ prāṇaṃ hariṣyāmi mahāvratasya ||
Sañjaya sprach: «O Held der Sātvatas! Heute, da ich (Kṛṣṇa) von Zorn entflammt bin, wird kein Wagenkämpfer der Kauravas mir lebend auf dem Schlachtfeld entkommen. Darum werde ich, indem ich die schrecklichste Waffe meines Wagens ergreife—das Cakra—dem großen Gelübdehalter (Bhīṣma) das Leben nehmen.»
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a dharmic crisis in war: even a protector committed to restraint may be driven to fierce action when injustice seems unchecked. It foregrounds the tension between vows/rules of combat and the urgent duty to protect the righteous, showing how anger and compassion can collide in moments of moral extremity.
Sañjaya reports Kṛṣṇa’s resolve on the battlefield: in anger, he declares that no Kaurava chariot-warrior will escape him that day, and that he will seize the chariot’s foremost weapon (understood as the wheel) to slay Bhīṣma, the renowned great vow-holder.