Shloka 15
शोषयत्येव पातालं बहन् गन्धवह:ः शुचि: । सरांसि सरितकश्चैव सागरांश्व तथैव च,“गन्धवाही पवित्र पवन पाताल, सरोवर, सरिताओं और समुद्रोंको भी सुखा सकता है
śoṣayaty eva pātālaṃ bahan gandhavahaḥ śuciḥ | sarāṃsi saritāṃś caiva sāgarāṃś ca tathaiva ca ||
Bhīṣma said: “The pure wind, bearer of fragrance, can indeed dry up even the netherworld; likewise it can dry up lakes, rivers, and even the oceans.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even what appears vast and unassailable can be overcome by a powerful, pervasive force; the verse uses the wind’s capacity to dry waters as an ethical analogy for how potent influences (time, discipline, austerity, or moral force) can exhaust entrenched conditions.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction in the Śānti Parva, he employs a striking natural image—the pure, fragrance-bearing wind drying up Pātāla, lakes, rivers, and oceans—to emphasize the magnitude of certain forces and to support a broader moral or philosophical point.