Shloka 166
अध्याय ७५ — दैव-पुरुषकार-समन्वयः
Reconciling Contingency and Human Effort
द्रष्टा मां त्वं च लोकश्न विकर्षन्तं वरान् वरान् जब (घमासान युद्धमें) मैं कुपित होकर मतवाले हाथियों
draṣṭā māṃ tvaṃ ca loka-jña vikarṣantaṃ varān varān; yuddhe krodha-samāviṣṭo mattān gajān rathinaś ca hayārohāṃś ca pātayiṣyāmi prakṣepsyāmi ca; anyāṃś ca śreṣṭhān kṣatriya-vīrān nihaniṣyāmi; tadā tvaṃ ca pare lokāś ca māṃ drakṣyatha yathāhaṃ pradhāna-pradhānān vīrān vicitya vicitya saṃharāmi.
Bhīmasena sagte: «Du, der die Wege der Welt kennt, wirst mich sehen, wie ich die Vornehmsten der Krieger zu Boden reiße. Wenn ich im Zorn der erbitterten Schlacht beginne, rasende Kriegselefanten, Wagenkämpfer und Reiter niederzuschlagen und beiseite zu schleudern, und wenn ich daran gehe, weitere erlesene Kṣatriya-Helden zu töten, dann wirst du mit allen Menschen sehen, wie ich mir, einen nach dem andern, die wichtigsten Streiter auswähle und sie vernichte.»
भीमसेन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds kṣatriya-dharma as martial duty: Bhīma frames his coming violence as deliberate, targeted destruction of leading enemy champions. Ethically, it highlights the tension between righteous duty in war and the dangerous momentum of anger (krodha) that can intensify violence.
Bhīma declares that, once battle begins, he will in wrath bring down elephants, chariot-fighters, and cavalry, and will systematically pick out and kill the foremost kṣatriya heroes—so that the addressed ‘knower of the world’ and others will witness his selective slaughter of principal warriors.