Shloka 16
Dama-pradhāna-dharma (Self-restraint as the Root of Dharma) — Śānti-parva 154
विनिश्चित्याथ च तदा विक्रोशन्तस्ततस्ततः । मृतमित्येव गच्छन्तो निराशास्तस्य दर्शने
viniścityātha ca tadā vikrośantastatastataḥ | mṛtamityeva gacchanto nirāśāstasya darśane ||
Bhīṣma said: “Having then come to a firm conclusion, they cried out again and again in different directions. Deciding, ‘He is surely dead,’ they set off to leave, their hope of seeing him now extinguished.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how grief and incomplete knowledge can harden into certainty (“he must be dead”), leading to despair and withdrawal—an ethical reminder to be cautious in judgment and steady in adversity.
A group searches and laments loudly in many directions; failing to find the boy, they conclude he has died and, losing hope of seeing him, prepare to depart.