Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 513
ब्राह्मणपूजा-राजधर्मः | Royal Duty of Honoring Learned Brahmins
अस्येदानीं वधादद्य भविष्याम्यनृण: पितु: । इतना ही नहीं
asyedānīṁ vadhād adya bhaviṣyāmy anṛṇaḥ pituḥ |
भीष्म बोले— “आज इसका वध करके मैं अंततः पिता के ऋण से उऋण हो जाऊँगा। इतना ही नहीं—इसके पुत्रों ने काशी-प्रदेश के समस्त राज्य को उजाड़ दिया है और संचित रत्न-धन को लूट लिया है। घमंड से भरे हुए उस राजा के सौ पुत्रों को तो मैं मार चुका हूँ; अब केवल ये ही शेष हैं। यदि अब इनका भी वध कर दूँ, तो क्या मैं पिता के ऋण से मुक्त हो जाऊँगा?”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage frames violence within the moral language of ṛṇa (obligation): Bhīṣma interprets his duty to his father as a binding debt that can be ‘discharged’ through decisive action. It highlights the tension between personal vows/filial duty and the ethical weight of killing, especially when justified as restoring order after plunder and arrogance.
Bhīṣma speaks about completing an act of retribution: after the king’s sons have ravaged Kāśī and looted treasures, he claims to have already killed a hundred of them, with only a few remaining. He considers killing the rest ‘today’ so that he may become anṛṇa—free of his debt to his father.