Shloka 2
Bhīṣma on the Śara-Śayyā: Yudhiṣṭhira and Kṛṣṇa Approach the Eldest for Śānti
अहो रामस्य वार्ष्णेय शक्रस्येव महात्मन: । विक्रमो वसुधा येन क्रोधान्नरि:क्षत्रिया कृता
aho rāmasya vārṣṇeya śakrasy eva mahātmanaḥ | vikramo vasudhā yena krodhān nariḥ-kṣatriyā kṛtā |
Vaiśampāyana said: “O descendant of the Vṛṣṇis, wondrous indeed is the prowess of the great-souled Rāma (Paraśurāma), like that of Indra himself—by whose wrath the whole earth was made bereft of kṣatriyas.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the immense destructive capacity of wrath even in a great person: Paraśurāma’s anger leads to a world-altering outcome (the earth ‘bereft of kṣatriyas’), implicitly pointing to the ethical need for restraint and the grave social consequences when power is driven by anger.
Vaiśampāyana addresses ‘Vārṣṇeya’ (Kṛṣṇa) and marvels at Paraśurāma’s Indra-like valor, recalling the traditional account that, in anger, he annihilated the kṣatriya class across the earth.