Shloka 22
कर्णसेनापत्यारम्भः — Karṇa’s Appointment and the Report to Dhṛtarāṣṭra
Chapter 1
तथा शान्तनवं वृद्ध ब्रह्मन् बाह्लीकमेव च । द्रोणं च सोमदत्तं च भूरिश्रवसमेव च
tathā śāntanavaṁ vṛddha brahman bāhlīkam eva ca | droṇaṁ ca somadattaṁ ca bhūriśravasam eva ca ||
Janamejaya dit : «Ô brahmane vénérable, j’ai entendu de même parler du vieux Śāntanava (Bhīṣma), de Bāhlīka, ainsi que de Droṇa, de Somadatta et de Bhūriśravas. Même après avoir appris que ceux-là, et bien d’autres encore—amis dévoués, fils et petits-fils—avaient été tués par les ennemis, il n’abandonna pas la vie. De là, il me semble que, pour un homme, mourir de son propre gré—renoncer délibérément à la vie—est chose extrêmement difficile.»
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a moral-psychological insight: even amid overwhelming bereavement, relinquishing life by sheer will is not easy. Human beings are bound by attachment, duty, and the momentum of life (prāṇa), so ‘voluntary death’ is portrayed as exceptionally difficult.
In the frame dialogue, Janamejaya addresses the Brahmin narrator and lists major elders and warriors—Bhīṣma, Bāhlīka, Droṇa, Somadatta, and Bhūriśravas—who were slain. He reflects that despite hearing of such losses (of friends, sons, and grandsons), the person in question did not give up his life, prompting Janamejaya’s observation about the difficulty of dying by choice.