Shloka 6
Śara-śayyā-sthita-bhīṣma-saṃvāda-prastāvaḥ
The Prelude to Questioning Bhīṣma on the Bed of Arrows
तेडभिगम्य महात्मानो भरतानां पितामहम् । अन्वशोचन्त गण्ड्रेयमादित्यं पतितं यथा
teḍabhigamya mahātmāno bharatānāṁ pitāmaham | anvaśocanta gāṅdreyam ādityaṁ patitaṁ yathā ||
Then those great-souled survivors approached Bhīṣma, the grandsire of the Bharatas. Seeing him fallen like the sun brought down from the sky, they repeatedly lamented and poured out their grief—an image that frames the aftermath of war as not merely victory or defeat, but a moral collapse that demands reflection on dharma and the cost of violence.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the ethical weight of war: even the victors are compelled to mourn when dharma’s foremost elder lies struck down. The simile of the fallen sun suggests a world dimmed—victory cannot erase the moral and emotional consequences of violence.
After the great war, the surviving leaders go to the battlefield where Bhīṣma lies fallen. They approach him and repeatedly express grief, recognizing him as the venerable grandsire of the Bharata line and as a towering moral presence now brought low.