Shloka 25
Gāndhārī’s Battlefield Survey: The Fallen and the Onset of Funeral Rites (शल्य-भगीरथ-भीष्म-द्रोणादि-दर्शनम्)
धर्मेषु कुरव: क॑ नु परिप्रक्ष्यन्ति माधव । गते देवब्ते स्वर्ग देवकल्पे नरर्षभे,माधव! इन देवतुल्य नरश्रेष्ठ देवव्रतके स्वर्गलोकमें चले जानेपर अब कौरव किसके पास जाकर धर्मविषयक प्रश्न करेंगे
dharmeṣu kuravaḥ kaṃ nu paripṛcchanti mādhava | gate devavrte svargaṃ devakalpe nararṣabhe ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: “O Mādhava, now that Devavrata—Bhīṣma, that bull among men, godlike in stature—has departed for heaven, to whom will the Kauravas go to inquire about dharma?”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Dharma requires living exemplars and trusted teachers; when a great authority like Bhīṣma is gone, society feels the vacuum of moral guidance and must seek new, worthy sources of counsel.
After Bhīṣma (Devavrata), revered as godlike and foremost among men, has departed to heaven, the speaker laments that the Kauravas no longer have their principal elder and dharma-knower to consult on questions of righteousness and duty.