Shloka 17
लक प्र | अश्वत्थामेति हि गज: ख्यातो नाम्ना हतो5भवत् | कृत्वा मनसि तं॑ भीमो मिथ्या व्याहृृतवांस्तदा,“अश्वत्थामा” नामसे विख्यात हाथी मारा गया था, उसीको मनमें रखकर भीमसेनने उस समय वह झूठी बात कही थी
aśvatthāmeti hi gajaḥ khyāto nāmnā hato 'bhavat | kṛtvā manasi taṃ bhīmo mithyā vyāhṛtavāṃs tadā “aśvatthāmā” ||
Sañjaya said: A certain elephant, famous by the name “Aśvatthāman,” had been slain. Keeping that very fact in mind, Bhīma at that moment uttered a falsehood—saying “Aśvatthāmā”—so that the hearers would take it to mean Droṇa’s son. The episode highlights a deliberate use of ambiguity in war, where tactical advantage is sought at the cost of truthfulness and moral clarity.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the ethical tension between strategic necessity and truthfulness: even when a statement is technically anchored in a fact (the elephant named Aśvatthāman was killed), speaking it to mislead others becomes morally compromised, illustrating how war pressures dharma and corrodes straightforward speech.
After an elephant named Aśvatthāman is slain, Bhīma deliberately utters “Aśvatthāmā,” intending the audience—especially Droṇa—to interpret it as the death of Droṇa’s son Aśvatthāmā, thereby advancing a deceptive tactic within the battlefield narrative.