Shloka 6
Jājali–Tulādhāra-saṃvāda: Yajña, Vṛtti, and Ātma-tīrtha (जाजलि-तुलाधार-संवादः)
कस्य मृत्यु: कुतो मृत्यु: केन मृत्युरिह प्रजा: । हरत्यमरसंकाश तनमे ब्रूहि पितामह,ये जो नरेश मृत्युको प्राप्त हो गये हैं, इनमें बहुत-से भयानक पराक्रमसे सम्पन्न हैं। यहाँ मेरे मनमें यह संदेह होता है कि इन्हें मृत नाम कैसे दिया गया? किसकी मृत्यु होती है? किससे मृत्यु होती है? और किस कारणसे मृत्यु यहाँ समस्त प्राणियोंका अपहरण करती है? देवतुल्य पितामह! मुझे यह सब बतानेकी कृपा करें
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca |
kasyā mṛtyuḥ kuto mṛtyuḥ kena mṛtyur iha prajāḥ |
haraty amara-saṅkāśa tan me brūhi pitāmaha ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “Whose is death? From where does death arise? By what agency does death occur here, and how does it carry off living beings? O grandsire, radiant like the immortals, tell me this.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a philosophical inquiry into mortality: death is not treated merely as an event but as a principle with causes and instruments. Yudhiṣṭhira seeks a dharmic explanation—how death operates in the world and what it means to call beings ‘dead’—inviting Bhīṣma to articulate an ethical-metaphysical account rather than a purely physical one.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction setting, Yudhiṣṭhira, burdened by the loss of many powerful kings and warriors, turns to Bhīṣma (‘Pitāmaha’) for clarity. He asks pointed questions about the source, agency, and mechanism of death, setting up Bhīṣma’s subsequent discourse on the nature of death and the conditions under which beings are said to perish.