Shloka 22
कर्णसेनापत्यारम्भः — Karṇa’s Appointment and the Report to Dhṛtarāṣṭra
Chapter 1
तथा शान्तनवं वृद्ध ब्रह्मन् बाह्लीकमेव च । द्रोणं च सोमदत्तं च भूरिश्रवसमेव च,ब्रह्मन! उन्होंने वृद्ध शान्तनुनन्दन भीष्म, बाह्नीक, द्रोण, सोमदत्त तथा भूरिश्रवाको और अन्यान्य सुहृदों, पुत्रों एवं पौत्रोंको भी शत्रुओंद्वारा मारा गया सुनकर भी जो अपने प्राण नहीं छोड़े, उससे मुझे यही मालूम होता है कि मनुष्यके लिये स्वेच्छापूर्वक मरना बहुत कठिन है
tathā śāntanavaṁ vṛddha brahman bāhlīkam eva ca | droṇaṁ ca somadattaṁ ca bhūriśravasam eva ca ||
Janamejaya said: “O venerable Brahmin, likewise (I have heard) of the aged Śāntanava (Bhīṣma), and of Bāhlīka, and also of Droṇa, Somadatta, and Bhūriśravas. Even after learning that these and many other well-wishers—sons and grandsons—had been slain by enemies, he did not abandon his life. From this it seems to me that for a human being, to die by one’s own will (to relinquish life deliberately) is exceedingly difficult.”
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a moral-psychological insight: even amid overwhelming bereavement, relinquishing life by sheer will is not easy. Human beings are bound by attachment, duty, and the momentum of life (prāṇa), so ‘voluntary death’ is portrayed as exceptionally difficult.
In the frame dialogue, Janamejaya addresses the Brahmin narrator and lists major elders and warriors—Bhīṣma, Bāhlīka, Droṇa, Somadatta, and Bhūriśravas—who were slain. He reflects that despite hearing of such losses (of friends, sons, and grandsons), the person in question did not give up his life, prompting Janamejaya’s observation about the difficulty of dying by choice.