Shloka 1
युधिष्ठिरने पूछा--पितामह! जो शूरवीर शत्रुके साथ डटकर युद्ध करते हैं और कभी पीठ नहीं दिखाते, वे समरांगणमें मृत्युको प्राप्त होकर किन लोकोंमें जाते हैं, यह मुझे बताइये
Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca—Pitāmaha! ye śūrāḥ śatrubhiḥ saha dṛḍhaṁ yuddhaṁ kurvanti, kadācit pṛṣṭhaṁ na darśayanti, te samara-aṅgaṇe mṛtyuṁ prāpya keṣu lokeṣu gacchanti? etad me brūhi.
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “Grandfather, tell me this: those heroic warriors who stand firm and fight the enemy face to face, never turning their backs—when they meet death on the battlefield, to which worlds do they go?”
युधिषछ्िर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a dharmic inquiry into the moral and spiritual consequence of steadfast courage in righteous combat: whether dying without retreat, facing the enemy, leads to specific higher realms. It sets up Bhīṣma’s instruction on kṣatriya-duty and the fruits of battlefield death.
During Bhīṣma’s teachings in the Śānti Parva, Yudhiṣṭhira asks his grandsire to explain the posthumous destination (lokas) of warriors who fight bravely and do not flee, if they die on the battlefield.