Shloka 42
Bhīṣma-nipāta-saṃvāda — Sañjaya’s Report of Bhīṣma’s Fall (भीष्मनिपातसंवादः)
यः पुरा विबुधै: सर्वे: सहाये युद्धदुर्मद: । काडुक्षितो दानवान् घ्नद्धिः पिता मम महाव्रत:
yaḥ purā vibudhaiḥ sarvaiḥ sahāye yuddha-durmadaḥ | kāḍukṣito dānavān ghnaddhiḥ pitā mama mahā-vrataḥ ||
Dijo Dhṛtarāṣṭra: «Aquel que antaño—altivo e intoxicado por la guerra—se alzó como aliado de todos los dioses y, consagrado para un rito severo, abatió a los Dānavas: ese de gran voto es mi padre.»
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the ethical weight of lineage and vows: a ruler’s identity is shaped by ancestral exemplars—especially those marked by steadfast observance (vrata) and decisive action in defense of cosmic order, even when that action is violent.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra recalls an ancient figure—his father—describing him as a formidable warrior allied with the gods who, after a severe consecration, destroyed the Dānavas. The statement situates the present war within a larger mythic frame of divine–asuric conflict and inherited martial legacy.