Shloka 43
Adhyāya 111 (Book 6): Daśama-dina-saṃgrāma—Bhīṣma’s Counsel to Yudhiṣṭhira and the Śikhaṇḍin-Led Advance
काममभ्यस वा मा वा न त्वां योत्स्ये कथंचन । यैव हि त्वं कृता धात्रा सैव हि त्वं शिखण्डिनी,“अरे, तू इच्छानुसार प्रहार कर या न कर। मैं तेरे साथ किसी तरह युद्ध नहीं करूँगा। विधाताने जिस रूपमें तुझे उत्पन्न किया था, तू वही शिखण्डिनी है”
sañjaya uvāca |
kāmam abhyasu vā mā vā na tvāṁ yotsye kathaṁcana |
yaiva hi tvaṁ kṛtā dhātrā saiva hi tvaṁ śikhaṇḍinī ||
Sañjaya said: “Strike if you wish, or do not strike at all; I will not fight with you in any way. For the very form in which the Creator fashioned you—that indeed you are: Śikhaṇḍinī.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even in war, one may be bound by ethical restraints: the speaker asserts a moral limit on violence, refusing to engage an opponent viewed as not fitting the proper category for combat, and grounding that refusal in the opponent’s original identity as ordained by the Creator.
During the Kurukṣetra battle, a warrior addresses Śikhaṇḍin, saying that whether Śikhaṇḍin attacks or not, he will not fight back, because Śikhaṇḍin is regarded as Śikhaṇḍinī—the form in which the Creator originally made that person.