Shloka 513
ब्राह्मणपूजा-राजधर्मः | Royal Duty of Honoring Learned Brahmins
अस्येदानीं वधादद्य भविष्याम्यनृण: पितु: । इतना ही नहीं
asyedānīṁ vadhād adya bhaviṣyāmy anṛṇaḥ pituḥ |
Bhishma said: “By killing him today, I shall at last become free of my debt to my father. Not only that—his sons have devastated the entire kingdom of the Kāśī region and plundered its hoarded treasures. In arrogant pride I have already slain the king’s hundred sons; only these remain. If I now kill them too, will I be released from my obligation to my father?”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage frames violence within the moral language of ṛṇa (obligation): Bhīṣma interprets his duty to his father as a binding debt that can be ‘discharged’ through decisive action. It highlights the tension between personal vows/filial duty and the ethical weight of killing, especially when justified as restoring order after plunder and arrogance.
Bhīṣma speaks about completing an act of retribution: after the king’s sons have ravaged Kāśī and looted treasures, he claims to have already killed a hundred of them, with only a few remaining. He considers killing the rest ‘today’ so that he may become anṛṇa—free of his debt to his father.