Shloka 233
Gadā-yuddhe Bhīma–Duryodhanayoḥ Tumulaḥ Saṃprahāraḥ
Mace-duel’s intense exchange
समाप्तं भरतश्रेष्ठ मातापित्रोश्व दर्शनम् । “आज एक दिनमें इसका वध करके मैं अपने-आपसे उऋण हो जाऊँगा। भरतभूषण! आज दुर्बुद्धि एवं अजितात्मा धृतराष्ट्रपुत्रकी आयु समाप्त हो गयी है। इसे माता-पिताके दर्शनका अवसर भी अब नहीं मिलनेवाला है
samāptaṃ bharataśreṣṭha mātāpitror darśanam | “adya eka-dinena asya vadhaṃ kṛtvā ahaṃ svayam-ṛṇo bhaviṣyāmi | bharatabhūṣaṇa! adya durbuddhiḥ ajitātmā dhṛtarāṣṭra-putrasya āyuḥ samāptā | asmai mātā-pitṛ-darśanasya avasaro 'pi idānīṃ na bhaviṣyati”
Sañjaya said: “O best of the Bharatas, the chance for him to behold his mother and father has come to an end. ‘Today, within a single day, by slaying him I shall free myself from my own debt. O ornament of the Bharata line! Today the life-span of Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s son—foolish in counsel and unconquered in self—has reached its limit. For him there will no longer be any opportunity even to see his parents.’”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage frames war-death as the culmination of moral and psychological failure: lack of self-mastery (ajitātmā) and misguided counsel (durbuddhi) lead to a fate where even basic human consolations—like seeing one’s parents—are cut off. It also highlights the warrior’s sense of obligation (ṛṇa) and the dangerous ethic of ‘repaying’ debts through violence.
Sañjaya reports that a Kaurava prince, identified as Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s son, is at the end of his life. A speaker within the reported speech declares that he will kill him that very day and thereby become ‘free of debt,’ while noting that the doomed prince will no longer have any chance to see his mother and father.