Shloka 112
Dama-pradhāna-dharma (Self-restraint as the Root of Dharma) — Śānti-parva 154
ते प्रत्यूचुरिदं वाक््यं दुःखिता: प्रणता: स्थिता: । एकपुत्रविहीनानां सर्वेषां जीवितार्थिनाम्
te pratyūcur idaṃ vākyaṃ duḥkhitāḥ praṇatāḥ sthitāḥ | ekaputravihīnānāṃ sarveṣāṃ jīvitārthinām ||
Overwhelmed with sorrow, they stood with bowed heads and replied in these words—like people bereft of their only son, all of them clinging to life and pleading for the means to go on living.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the ethical weight of compassion toward those crushed by personal loss: grief and vulnerability lead people to humility and supplication, reminding a ruler or elder to respond with sensitivity to suffering.
In Bhishma’s narration, a group of people—sorrowful and bowed down—respond to someone’s words. They identify themselves as bereft of an only son and as persons desperately seeking to preserve life, setting a tone of lament and appeal.