Shloka 8
Yudhiṣṭhira’s Remorse and Vyāsa’s Teaching on Impermanence (Śoka-nivāraṇa)
यः स बाणभनुष्पाणियोंधयामास भार्गवम् | बहुन्यहानि कौरव्य: कुरुक्षेत्रे महामृधे,जिन कुरुकुलशिरोमणि वीरने कुरक्षेत्रमें महायुद्ध ठानकर हाथमें धनुष-बाण लिये बहुत दिनोंतक परशुरामजीके साथ युद्ध किया था, जिन वीर गंगा-नन्दन भीष्मने वाराणसीपुरीमें काशिराजकी कन्याओंके लिये युद्धका अवसर उपस्थित होनेपर एकमात्र रथके द्वारा वहाँ एकत्र हुए समस्त क्षत्रिय नरेशोंको ललकारा था तथा जिन्होंने दुर्जय चक्रवर्ती राजा उग्रायुधको अपने अस्त्रोंके प्रतापसे दग्ध कर दिया था, उन्हींको मैंने युद्धमें मरवा डाला
yaḥ sa bāṇa-dhanuṣ-pāṇir yodhayām āsa bhārgavam | bahūny ahāni kauravyaḥ kuru-kṣetre mahā-mṛdhe ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “He who, with bow and arrows in hand, fought the Bhārgava (Paraśurāma) for many days—O Kauravya—on the field of Kurukṣetra in that great and terrible combat: that very hero I caused to be slain in war.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the moral weight of warfare: even the slaying of a renowned, dharma-anchored hero becomes a source of ethical anguish. It frames victory not as triumph alone but as an act that demands reflection on responsibility, duty, and the cost of violence.
Yudhiṣṭhira recalls the extraordinary martial stature of the warrior who once fought Paraśurāma for many days at Kurukṣetra, and he laments that this very hero was brought to death in the war—highlighting Yudhiṣṭhira’s grief and self-reproach in the aftermath of the Kurukṣetra conflict.