Shloka 346
भीष्म–रामजामदग्न्ययुद्धप्रस्थानवर्णनम्
Bhishma’s Account of Parashurama’s Challenge and the March to Kurukshetra
भूमौ सर्वे तदा राजन् भस्म भूता: प्रपेदिरे । राजन! वे सभी बाण अपने ही संघर्षसे उत्पन्न हुई अग्निसे जलकर भस्म हो गये और भूमिपर गिर पड़े
bhūmau sarve tadā rājan bhasma-bhūtāḥ prapedire |
Bhīṣma said: “O King, at that time all of them, reduced to ashes, fell upon the ground.” Those arrows were burned by the fire born of their own clash, turned to ash, and dropped to the earth.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse conveys the self-destructive momentum of conflict: when hostility intensifies, even the instruments of power are consumed, reminding rulers that war brings inevitable loss and that restraint and wise counsel are ethically weighty.
Bhīṣma describes a scene where, amid fierce engagement, everything involved is reduced to ash and falls to the earth—an image often understood as weapons (such as arrows) being burned up by the heat generated through their clash and then dropping to the ground.