Shloka 68
अम्बा–राम–भीष्म संवादः
Amba–Rama–Bhishma Dialogue on Vow and Refuge
कृपणं त्वामभिप्रेक्ष्य सिद्धचारणसेविता । मया विनिहतं देवी रोदतामद्य पार्थिव,“राजन! तुम दीन हो। आज तुम्हें मेरे हाथसे मारा गया देख सिद्ध-चारणसेविता गंगादेवी रुदन करें
kṛpaṇaṁ tvām abhiprekṣya siddha-cāraṇa-sevitā | mayā vinihataṁ devī rodatām adya pārthiva ||
Bhīṣma said: “O king, you are pitiable. Seeing you struck down by my hand today, the goddess Gaṅgā—attended by Siddhas and Cāraṇas—will weep.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical weight of a ruler’s downfall: a king’s defeat is not only a battlefield event but a collapse with moral and cosmic resonance, evoking grief even in divine figures. It stresses the seriousness of kṣatriya conflict and the sorrow bound up with adharma, misjudgment, or inevitable fate.
Bhīṣma addresses a king directly, declaring him pitiable and envisioning that Gaṅgā—Bhīṣma’s divine mother, attended by celestial beings—will weep upon seeing him slain by Bhīṣma. The statement intensifies the scene by invoking divine witness and lament.