Shloka 19
शूरलक्षणवर्णनम् | Marks and Typologies of Martial Temperament
त्यक्तात्मान: सर्व एते अन्त्यजा हानिवर्तिन: । पुरस्कार्या: सदा सैन्ये हन्यन्ते घ्नन्ति चापि ये
tyaktātmānaḥ sarva ete antyajā hānivartinaḥ | puraskāryāḥ sadā sainye hanyante ghnanti cāpi ye ||
Bhīṣma said: “All these men are self-abandoned and of the lowest sort, turning away from what is beneficial. Yet in an army they are always put in the forefront; they are slain, and they also slay.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma highlights a grim ethical reality of warfare: those lacking self-restraint and sound judgment are often pushed to the front lines, where they both inflict and suffer violence. The verse critiques reckless dispositions and the way armies instrumentalize such people.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma is instructing Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and statecraft after the war. Here he comments on the character of certain fighters in an army—men deemed morally degraded and self-abandoning—who are nevertheless deployed in the vanguard and become agents and victims of killing.