Shloka 10
एकचक्रानिवासे ब्राह्मणगृहदुःखश्रवणम् | Hearing the Brāhmaṇa Household’s Distress at Ekacakrā
अधर्म्यमिदमत्यन्तं कथं भीष्मोडनुमन्यते । विवास्यमानानस्थाने नगरे यो$भिमन्यते,“इस अत्यन्त अधर्मयुक्त कार्यके लिये भीष्मजी कैसे अनुमति दे रहे हैं? पाण्डवोंको अनुचितरूपसे यहाँसे निकालकर जो रहनेयोग्य स्थान नहीं, उस वारणावत नगरमें भेजा जा रहा है! फिर भी भीष्मजी चुपचाप क्यों इसे मान लेते हैं?
adharmyam idam atyantaṁ kathaṁ bhīṣmo 'numanyate | vivāsyamānān asthāne nagare yo 'bhimanyate ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: “This is utterly unrighteous—how can Bhīṣma possibly give his assent to it? The Pāṇḍavas are being driven out without just cause and sent to Vāraṇāvata, a city that is no fit place to dwell; yet Bhīṣma appears to accept it in silence.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical tension between dharma and political expediency: when an evidently unrighteous plan is underway, the moral burden increases on respected elders like Bhīṣma, whose consent—or even silence—can legitimize wrongdoing.
A plan is being carried out to remove the Pāṇḍavas from their rightful place by sending them to Vāraṇāvata. The narrator voices shock that Bhīṣma, the foremost elder of the Kurus, appears to allow or accept this unjust move.