Shloka 70
Bhīṣma-nipāta-saṃvāda — Sañjaya’s Report of Bhīṣma’s Fall (भीष्मनिपातसंवादः)
दुःशासनश्नल कितवो हते भीष्मे किमब्रुवन् । संजय! शत्रुओंने मेरे आदरणीय पिता भीष्मका किस प्रकार वध किया? दुर्योधन, कर्ण, दुःशासन तथा सुबलपुत्र जुआरी शकुनिने भीष्मजीके मारे जानेपर क्या-क्या बातें कहीं? || ६९ हू || यच्छरीरैरुपास्तीर्णा नरवारणवाजिनाम्
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca | duḥśāsanaś ca kitavo hate bhīṣme kim abruvan | sañjaya! śatrubhiḥ me ādarṇīyaḥ pitā bhīṣmaḥ kathaṃ vadhitaḥ | duryodhanaḥ karṇaḥ duḥśāsanaḥ tathā subalaputraḥ kitavaḥ śakuniḥ bhīṣmaji mṛte kiṃ-kiṃ avadan || yaccharīrair upāstīrṇā naravāraṇavājinām ||
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “Sañjaya, when Bhīṣma had been slain, what did Duḥśāsana and that gambler say? How, indeed, did my revered elder—Bhīṣma—come to be killed by the enemy? And after Bhīṣma’s fall, what words were spoken by Duryodhana, Karṇa, Duḥśāsana, and Śakuni, the gambler, son of Subala?”
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how attachment and partiality drive Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s questioning: he seeks not only facts but also the reactions of those responsible for adharma (notably the ‘gambler’ Śakuni). It implicitly points to the moral causality of war—Bhīṣma’s fall becomes a moment of reckoning for choices rooted in deceit and ambition.
After hearing that Bhīṣma has fallen, Dhṛtarāṣṭra asks Sañjaya to explain how the enemy managed to bring down Bhīṣma and what Duryodhana, Karṇa, Duḥśāsana, and Śakuni said in response to this decisive event on the battlefield.