Shloka 33
(अजय्यश्लवैव लोकानां सर्वेषामिति मे मति: ।) कारणद्वयमास्थाय नाहं योत्स्यामि पाण्डवान्
sañjaya uvāca | (ajayyaślavāiva lokānāṁ sarveṣām iti me matiḥ |) kāraṇadvayam āsthāya nāhaṁ yotsyāmi pāṇḍavān, atāḍayan raṇe bhīṣmaṁ sahitāḥ sarvasṛñjayāḥ | samastāḥ sṛñjayā vīrā ekasātha saṅgaṭhitāḥ bhayaṅkaraiḥ śataghnyā-parigha-phaśa-mudgara-muśala-prāsa-gophana-suvarṇamaya-pakṣavālaiḥ bāṇaiḥ śaktyā-tomaraiḥ kampana-nārāca-vatsadanta-bhuśuṇḍy-ādibhiḥ astrāśastraiḥ raṇabhūmau bhīṣmaṁ sarvataḥ pīḍayām āsuḥ |
Sañjaya said: “My conviction is that he is truly unconquerable by all the worlds.” Yet, taking up two considerations, he resolved, “I will not fight the Pāṇḍavas.” Meanwhile, in the battle the assembled Sṛñjaya warriors struck Bhīṣma again and again. United together, they pressed him from every side with dreadful weapons—sataghnīs, iron clubs and bars, axes, maces, pestles, spears, slings, golden‑winged arrows, śaktis, tomaras, kampanas, nārācas, vatsadantas, bhuśuṇḍīs, and other missiles and arms—seeking to overwhelm even the grandsire who stood as the pillar of the Kuru cause.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even amid total war, the epic highlights the tension between martial duty and ethical restraint: a warrior may be deemed ‘invincible,’ yet choices—grounded in reasons and conscience—still shape action, and collective force can challenge even the greatest when dharma and strategy converge.
Sañjaya reports that Bhīṣma is regarded as unconquerable, but someone (in context, a key warrior) resolves not to fight the Pāṇḍavas for two reasons; at the same time, the Sṛñjaya fighters, acting together, surround and repeatedly strike Bhīṣma with many kinds of weapons, pressing him hard on the battlefield.