Shloka 16
Bhīṣma-nipāta-saṃvāda — Sañjaya’s Report of Bhīṣma’s Fall (भीष्मनिपातसंवादः)
स शेते निहतो भूमौ वातभग्न इव द्रुम: । मम दुर्मन्त्रितेनाजी यथा नाहति भारत,जिन्होंने इन्द्रके समान युद्धमें दस दिनोंतक अक्षय बाणोंकी वर्षा करके दस करोड़ विपक्षी सेनाओंका संहार कर डाला, वे ही भरतवंशी वीर भीष्म मेरी कुमन्त्रणाके कारण आँधीसे उखाड़े गये वृक्षकी भाँति युद्धमें मारे जाकर पृथ्वीपर शयन कर रहे हैं, वे कदापि इसके योग्य नहीं थे
sa śete nihato bhūmau vātabhagna iva drumaḥ | mama durmantritena ājau yathā nāhati bhārata ||
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “He lies slain upon the earth, like a tree broken by the wind. O Bhārata, it is as though he was struck down in battle because of my ill counsel.”
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights moral accountability: a ruler’s misguided counsel and choices can bring ruin even upon the greatest protectors, and grief is sharpened by the awareness of one’s own culpability.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra, hearing of Bhīṣma’s fall on the battlefield, describes him lying on the ground like a wind-broken tree and attributes this catastrophe to his own ill advice and decisions that led to the war.