Shloka 52
भीमसेनने कहा--देश-देशान्तरके निवासी क्षत्रियो! आपलोग मेरी इस बातपर ध्यान दें। ऐसी बात आजसे पहले न तो किसीने कही होगी और न दूसरा कोई कहेगा ही ।। यद्येतदेवमुक्त्वाहं न कुर्या पृथिवीश्वरा: । पितामहानां पूर्वेषां नाहं गतिमवाप्लुयाम्,भूमिपालो! यह खोटी बुद्धिवाला दुःशासन भरतवंशके लिये कलंक है। मैं युद्धमें बलपूर्वक इस पापीकी छाती फाड़कर इसका रक्त पीऊँगा। यदि न पीऊँ अर्थात्--अपनी कही हुई उस बातको पूरा न करूँ, तो मुझे अपने पूर्वज बाप-दादोंकी श्रेष्ठ गति न मिले
bhīma uvāca—deśa-deśāntara-nivāsinaḥ kṣatriyāḥ! yūyaṃ mama etad vacanaṃ śṛṇuta. īdṛśaṃ vacanam adya-pūrvam na kenāpi uktam, na ca anyaḥ kaścid vakṣyati. yady etad evam uktvāhaṃ na kuryā, pṛthivīśvarāḥ, pitāmahānāṃ pūrveṣāṃ ca gatim ahaṃ na avāpnuyām. bhūmipāla! eṣa duḥśāsanaḥ khotabuddhiḥ bharatavaṃśasya kalaṅkaḥ. yuddhe balāt asya pāpinaḥ vakṣaḥ vidārya tasya raktaṃ pāsyāmi. yadi na pāsyāmi—arthāt mayā uktam tat na pūrayāmi—tarhi me pūrvaja-pitṛṇāṃ śreṣṭhā gatiḥ na syāt.
Bhima said: “Kshatriyas dwelling in many lands, attend to my words. Such a vow has never been spoken before today, nor will anyone else speak it. If, having declared this, I do not carry it out, then, O lords of the earth, may I fail to attain the blessed destiny won by my grandsires and forefathers. O king, this Duhshasana—base-minded and a stain upon the Bharata line—I will, in battle, tear open the chest of this sinner by sheer force and drink his blood. If I do not drink it—if I do not fulfill what I have proclaimed—then let me be denied the highest path of my ancestors.”
भीम उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights the binding power of a publicly declared vow (pratijna) within the Kshatriya code: one’s honor and even one’s hoped-for ancestral ‘gati’ are staked on fulfilling one’s word. It also shows how appeals to lineage and reputation can intensify ethical conflict, turning justice-seeking into extreme vengeance.
Bhima addresses assembled kings/warriors and proclaims an unprecedented vow of vengeance against Duhshasana, calling him a disgrace to the Bharata line. He swears that in battle he will tear open Duhshasana’s chest and drink his blood, and he invokes a self-curse—loss of ancestral blessed destiny—if he fails to fulfill this vow.