Shloka 36
उपायधर्म-सेनायोगः
Upāya-dharma and Senāyoga: Expedient Ethics & Army Deployment
प्रतिध्वस्तोष्ठदन््तस्य न्यस्तसर्वायुधस्य च । अमिन्रैरवरुद्धस्य द्विषतामस्तु न: सदा
pratidhvastauṣṭhadantasya nyastasārvāyudhasya ca | amitrair avaruddhasya dviṣatām astu naḥ sadā ||
Bhishma dit : «Puisse un tel combattant ne se trouver à jamais que dans les rangs ennemis : celui dont les lèvres et les dents sont brisées, qui a jeté toutes ses armes, et que les adversaires encerclent de toutes parts.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma expresses a strategic-ethical wish: the condition of utter helplessness in battle—disarmed, wounded, and encircled—should belong to the opposing side, implying the duty to maintain one’s own strength and avoid such vulnerability in warfare.
In Bhīṣma’s discourse (Śānti Parva), he utters a pointed line describing a defeated warrior—broken-mouthed, weaponless, surrounded—and declares that such a state should be found in the enemy’s army, reflecting the realities and aims of battlefield conduct.