Shloka 20
Kṣātra-dharma in Campaign and Battle: Protection, Purification, and the Ideal Warrior’s End (क्षात्रधर्मः—अभियानयुद्धे रक्षणदानशुद्धिः)
मा स्म तांस्तादृशांस्तात जनिष्ठा: पुरुषाधमान् । ये सहायान् रणे हित्वा स्वस्तिमन्तो गृहान् ययु:
mā sma tāṁs tādṛśāṁs tāta janiṣṭhāḥ puruṣādhamān | ye sahāyān raṇe hitvā svastimanto gṛhān yayuḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: “Dear son, may you never beget such vile men—those who, abandoning their comrades on the battlefield, return safely to their homes. Such conduct is the very opposite of a warrior’s duty and of loyalty to one’s companions.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma condemns the betrayal of comrades in war: abandoning allies to save oneself is adharma and marks one as ‘puruṣādhama’ (the lowest of men). The ethical ideal upheld is steadfast loyalty and shared risk in righteous duty.
In Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma instructs the listener (addressed as ‘tāta’) on conduct and duty. Here he issues a sharp moral warning against producing or approving men who desert their companions in battle and then return home unharmed.