Shloka 9
भीष्मकी मृत्युका वृत्तान्त सुनकर उनका मन सर्वथा अप्रसन्न एवं उत्साहशून्य हो गया था। वे अपने पुत्रोंकी विजय चाहते हुए आतुरकी भाँति विलाप कर रहे थे ।। धृतराष्ट्र रवाच संशोच्य तु महात्मानं भीष्म॑ं भीमपराक्रमम् | किमकार्षु: परं॑ तात कुरव: कालचोदिता:,धृतराष्ट्रने पूछा--तात! संजय! भयंकर पराक्रमी महात्मा भीष्मके लिये अत्यन्त शोक करके कालप्रेरित कौरवोंने आगे कौन-सा कार्य किया
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca | saṁśocya tu mahātmānaṁ bhīṣmaṁ bhīmaparākramam | kim akāruḥ paraṁ tāta kuravaḥ kālacoditāḥ ||
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “After grieving deeply for the great-souled Bhīṣma of terrible prowess, what did the Kurus—driven onward by Time—do next, dear Sañjaya?”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames the war’s next turn as shaped not only by human choice but also by Kāla (Time), highlighting the ethical tension between agency and inevitability: even after mourning a revered elder, the Kuru side is compelled to continue actions whose consequences are already unfolding.
After Bhīṣma has fallen and the Kauravas have lamented him, Dhṛtarāṣṭra—anxious about the course of the battle—asks Sañjaya what the Kurus did next, emphasizing that their decisions are now being pushed forward by the momentum of fate and war.