Shloka 23
अम्बा-शाल्वसंवादः | Amba’s Appeal to Śālva and His Refusal
एकैकेन हि बाणेन भूमौ पातितवानहम् । हयांस्तेषां गजांश्रैव सारथींक्षाप्पहं रणे
ekaikena hi bāṇena bhūmau pātitavān aham | hayāṁs teṣāṁ gajāṁś caiva sārathīṁś cāpy ahaṁ raṇe | tato ’haṁ tāḥ striyaḥ kanyā vai bhrātur arthāya bhārata | tac ca karma mahābāho satyavatyai nyavedayam ||
Bhīṣma sprach: „Mit je einem einzigen Pfeil warf ich sie im Kampf zu Boden — ihre Pferde, ihre Elefanten und selbst die Wagenlenker. Dann, o Bharata, brachte ich jene Jungfrauen um meines Bruders willen. Und, o Mächtigarmer, ich meldete diese Tat Satyavatī.“
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds Bhishma’s sense of dynastic and familial duty: he uses martial prowess to secure a political-marital objective for his brother and then acts with accountability by reporting his actions to the family elder, Satyavati—linking power with responsibility within dharma.
Bhishma recounts how, in battle, he overpowered opponents by felling horses, elephants, and charioteers with precise arrows; afterward he brought the maidens intended for his brother’s marriage and informed Satyavati of what he had done.