Shloka 5
Chapter 61: Karṇa’s martial assurances and Bhīṣma’s strategic rebuttal in the Kuru assembly
निमेषमात्रात् तमृषे: प्रसाद- मवाप्य पाज्चालकरूषमत्स्यान् | निहत्य पार्थान् सह पुत्रपौत्रै- लॉकानहं शस्त्रजितान् प्रपत्स्ये
nimeṣamātrāt tam ṛṣeḥ prasādam avāpya pāñcālakurūṣamatsyān | nihatya pārthān saha putrapautraiḥ lokān ahaṃ śastrajitān prapatsye ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “Having obtained, in but the blink of an eye, the gracious favor of that sage, I shall slay the warriors of the Pāñcālas, the Karūṣas, and the Matsyas, and also the Pārthas together with their sons and grandsons; then I shall attain those meritorious worlds that are won by the sword.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a morally tense idea: spiritual or ascetic favor (prasāda) is being invoked to justify rapid mass killing and to claim ‘earned’ heavenly realms through violence. It invites reflection on how power—especially sanctified power—can be misused when driven by pride and vengeance, and how dharma becomes contested in wartime rhetoric.
A speaker (reported by Vaiśampāyana) boasts that, having gained the grace of a great sage (identified in the accompanying tradition as Paraśurāma), he will in an instant destroy allied groups—Pāñcālas, Karūṣas, Matsyas—and the Pāṇḍavas along with their descendants, and then attain the worlds believed to be won by martial conquest.