Shloka 11
यथा स सत्यो भवति तथा कुरु वृषध्वज । यथा हन्यां समागम्य भीष्म शान्तनवं युधि,“वृषध्वज! आपका यह वरदान जिस प्रकार सत्य हो, वैसा कीजिये; जिससे मैं युद्धमें शान्लनुपुत्र भीष्मका सामना करके उन्हें मार सकूँ”
yathā sa satyo bhavati tathā kuru vṛṣadhvaja | yathā hanyāṃ samāgamya bhīṣma śāntanavaṃ yudhi ||
Bhīṣma said: “O Vṛṣadhvaja, act in such a way that this boon of yours becomes true—so that, meeting Śāntanu’s son Bhīṣma on the battlefield, I may be able to strike him down.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the tension between human resolve and divine sanction: a warrior seeks the fulfillment of a granted boon so that a destined outcome in war becomes possible. It underscores how vows/boons (satya) are treated as binding realities that shape ethical and narrative causality in the epic.
Bhīṣma addresses Vṛṣadhvaja (Śiva), asking him to act so that a previously given boon proves true, enabling Bhīṣma to meet Śāntanu’s son Bhīṣma in battle and kill him—reflecting a context of impending war and the invocation of divine support for a specific martial outcome.