Shloka 14
भीष्मपर्व — अध्याय 18: सेनानिनादः, ध्वज-दीप्तिः, भीष्मरक्षण-व्यवस्था च
Battle Muster: Soundscape, Banners, and the Protection of Bhīṣma
द्वादशैते जनपदा: सर्वे शूरास्तनुत्यज: । महता रथवंशेन ते ररक्षु: पितामहम्
dvādaśaite janapadāḥ sarve śūrās tanutyajaḥ | mahatā rathavaṁśena te rarakṣuḥ pitāmaham ||
Sañjaya said: “These twelve realms—Abhīṣāha, Śūrasena, Śibi, Vasāti, Śālva, Matsya, Ambaṣṭha, Trigarta, Kekaya, Sauvīra, Kaitava, and the peoples of the eastern, western, and northern regions—were all filled with heroes ready to lay down their bodies. Forming a vast mass of chariots, they stood guarding the grandsire Bhīṣma.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the warrior-ethic of steadfast commitment: many peoples unite to protect their commander, accepting personal death as the cost of loyalty and duty. It also implicitly raises the Mahābhārata’s larger question—how such virtues operate when the moral clarity of the war is complex.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that a large coalition of warriors from twelve realms has formed a massive chariot-array to guard Bhīṣma, the Kaurava commander, emphasizing the scale of his protection on the battlefield.