Shloka 39
अम्बा–राम–भीष्म संवादः
Amba–Rama–Bhishma Dialogue on Vow and Refuge
इष्वस्त्रं मम बालस्य भवतैव चतुर्विधम् । उपदिष्ट महाबाहो शिष्यो5स्मि तव भार्गव
iṣvastraṃ mama bālasya bhavatā eva caturvidham | upadiṣṭa mahābāho śiṣyo ’smi tava bhārgava ||
Rāma said: “It was you yourself who taught me, when I was still a boy, the fourfold discipline of weapons and missiles. O mighty-armed Bhārgava, I am your disciple. Why, then, do you wish to fight with me?”
राम उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the ethical tension between martial duty and reverence for one’s teacher: even in a warrior context, the guru–śiṣya bond and gratitude for instruction create a moral question about the legitimacy of combat between them.
Rāma (Bhārgava/Paraśurāma) addresses his opponent and reminds him that he himself taught him the fourfold weapon-discipline in childhood; the speaker then questions why the other now seeks battle, emphasizing the disciple’s status and the impropriety of such a fight.