Shloka 17

Devanagari script

तथान्तो विहितस्तेन स्वयमेव महात्मना | तूने जो कुन्तीकुमार अर्जुनपर नरश्रेष्ठ भीष्मके वधका दोष लगाया है, वह भी व्यर्थ ही है; क्योंकि महात्मा भीष्मने स्वयं ही उसी प्रकार अपनी मृत्युका विधान किया था ।। १६ ६ || तस्यापि तव सोदर्यो निहन्ता पापकृत्तम:

Transliteration

tathānto vihitas tena svayam eva mahātmanā | tasyāpi tava sodaryo nihantā pāpakṛttamaḥ ||

Translation

Sañjaya dit : «Ainsi, cette fin fut arrêtée par lui-même, par Bhīṣma au grand cœur. Et quant à toi, même ton propre frère est le meurtrier, le plus pécheur des fauteurs d’actes impies.»

Word by Word

तस्यof him/that

अपिalso/even

तवof you/your

सोदर्यःuterine brother; brother (born of the same mother)

निहन्ताslayer

पापकृत्तमःmost sinful/evil-doing

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Bhīṣma

Arjuna

Kuntī

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames Bhīṣma’s fall as something he himself had already ‘ordained’—highlighting personal agency and the moral complexity of blame in war. It also underscores ethical accountability: even when events seem fated, the doer of harm (here, a ‘brother’ figure) bears moral weight.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya comments on the circumstances of Bhīṣma’s death, stating that Bhīṣma himself had set the terms of his end. He then points to the killer being ‘your own brother’ and brands him as a grievous sinner—intensifying the tragic irony and moral condemnation within the battlefield narrative.