Shloka 96
भीष्मपर्व — अध्याय ११०: पार्थभीमयोः प्रहारः तथा भीष्माभिमुखं संग्रामविस्तारः
Arjuna and Bhima’s pressure; escalation toward Bhishma
(कथमस्मद्विध: कृष्ण जानन् धर्म सनातनम् | न्यस्तशस्त्रे च वृद्धे च प्रहरेद्धि पितामहे ।।
katham asmadvidhaḥ kṛṣṇa jānan dharmaṃ sanātanam | nyastaśastre ca vṛddhe ca prahared dhi pitāmahe ||
vāyudeva uvāca |
pratijñāya vadhaṃ jiṣṇo purā bhīṣmasya saṃyuge | kṣatradharme sthitaḥ pārtha kathaṃ nainaṃ haniṣyasi ||
Vāyu said: “Kṛṣṇa, how could a man like me—one who knows the eternal Dharma—strike his own grandsire, an aged elder who has laid down his weapons?” Vāyu continued: “O Jiṣṇu (Arjuna), you once vowed in battle to bring about Bhīṣma’s death. Standing firm in the warrior’s code, O Pārtha, how can you now refrain from killing him?”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a classic dharma-conflict: reverence and compassion toward an aged, disarmed elder versus the binding force of a warrior’s duty and a publicly made vow. It highlights that dharma in the epic is situational and can demand difficult choices where competing obligations must be weighed.
In the Bhīṣma Parva battle setting, Vāyu voices the moral hesitation: striking Bhīṣma, the revered grandsire, especially when he is old and has laid down weapons, seems contrary to eternal dharma. The response (as preserved in this verse’s continuation) presses Arjuna to remember his earlier pledge to bring about Bhīṣma’s death and to act in accordance with kṣatriya-dharma on the battlefield.