Shloka 11
दासो5स्मीति तथा वाच्यं संसत्सु च सभासु च । एवं ते जीवितं दद्यामेष युद्धजितो विधि:,“तू राजाओंकी सभा-समितियोंमें जाकर सदा अपनेको (महाराज युधिष्ठिरका) दास बताया कर। यह शर्त स्वीकार हो, तो तुझे जीवन-दान दे सकता हूँ। युद्धमें विजयी पुरुषकी ओरसे हारे हुएके लिये ऐसा ही विधान है”
dāso ’smīti tathā vācyaṃ saṃsatsu ca sabhāsu ca | evaṃ te jīvitaṃ dadyām eṣa yuddhajito vidhiḥ ||
Bhīmasena said: “You must declare, ‘I am a slave,’ and you must say so in councils and in royal assemblies as well. If you accept this condition, I will grant you your life. Such is the rule imposed by a victor in war upon one who has been defeated.”
भीमसेन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a harsh but recognized wartime norm: the victor may impose a condition of public submission on the defeated, even while granting mercy (life). It highlights the tension between compassion (sparing life) and the ethics of humiliation as a tool of political dominance.
Bhīma addresses a defeated opponent and offers to spare him on the condition that he publicly proclaim himself the slave of King Yudhiṣṭhira in councils and royal assemblies, presenting this as the customary rule for one conquered in battle.