Shloka 10

पापात्म-धर्मात्म-लक्षणम् तथा निर्वेदेन मोक्षमार्गः | Marks of the Sinful and the Righteous; Dispassion (Nirveda) as a Path to Liberation

Devanagari script

पितुराज्ञां कथं कुर्या न हन्यां मातरं कथम्‌ । कथं धर्मच्छलेनास्मिन्‌ निमज्जेयमसाधुवत्‌

Transliteration

piturājñāṁ kathaṁ kuryā na hanyāṁ mātaraṁ katham | kathaṁ dharmacchalena asmin nimajjeyam asādhuvat ||

Translation

He thought: “How can I carry out my father’s command, and yet how can I avoid killing my mother? By the pretext of ‘dharma’ a grave calamity has fallen upon me. How could I, like other unrighteous men, bring myself to sink into such wrongdoing?”

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'pituḥ-ājñā (पितुराज्ञा)', 'meaning': 'the father’s command/order'}, {'term': 'katham (कथम्)', 'meaning': 'how? in what way?'}, {'term': 'kuryām (कुर्याम्)', 'meaning': 'should I do/should I carry out? (optative)'}, {'term': 'na hanyām (न हन्याम्)', 'meaning': 'I should not kill (optative)'}, {'term': 'mātaram (मातरम्)', 'meaning': 'mother (accusative singular)'}, {'term': 'dharma-chalena (धर्मच्छलेन)', 'meaning': 'by the guise/pretext of dharma

• using ‘dharma’ as a cover'}, {'term': 'asmin (अस्मिन्)', 'meaning': 'in this (matter/situation)'}, {'term': 'nimajjeyam (निमज्जेयम्)', 'meaning': 'should I sink/fall into (wrongdoing) (optative)'}, {'term': 'asādhu-vat (असाधुवत्)', 'meaning': 'like an unrighteous/unsaintly person'}]

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma
• father (pituḥ)
• mother (mātaram)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights a classic dharma-conflict: obedience to a legitimate authority (the father’s command) versus the higher moral prohibition against harming one’s mother. It warns against ‘dharma-chhala’—using the language of righteousness to justify an act that one’s conscience recognizes as adharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhishma voices an inner debate: he seeks a way to fulfill his father’s instruction without committing matricide. He recognizes that the situation has become a severe ethical crisis and refuses to ‘sink’ into wrongdoing like an asādhu, even if it could be rationalized as duty.