Shloka 56
Chapter 59: Baladeva’s Censure, Keśava’s Restraint, and Yudhiṣṭhira’s Moral Accounting
शिरश्न राजसिंहस्य पादेन समलोडयत् | ऐसा कहकर भीमसेनने अपने बायें पैरसे उसके मुकुटको ठुकराया और उस राजसिंहके मस्तकपर भी पैरसे ठोकर मारा
śiraś ca rājasiṃhasya pādena samaloḍayat |
Sañjaya sprach: Bhīmasena, so redend, stieß mit dem linken Fuß die Krone zu Boden und trat dann gegen den Kopf jenes „Löwen unter den Königen“. Diese Tat markiert den grausamen Höhepunkt der Vergeltung auf dem Schlachtfeld, wo Zorn und Rache die Ehrbezeugungen überdecken, die einem gefallenen Krieger traditionell zustehen.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how vengeance and fury in war can lead to acts that violate the ideal kṣatriya ethic of restraint and respect toward a defeated foe, inviting reflection on the moral costs of hatred even amid ‘just’ warfare.
Sañjaya narrates that Bhīma, after speaking, uses his left foot to knock away the fallen warrior’s crown and then kicks his head—an emphatic gesture of contempt and triumph at a climactic moment of the conflict.