Shloka 8
Gautama–Yama Saṃvāda: Mātṛ-Pitṛ-Ṛṇa (Debt to Parents) and Śubha-Loka Attainment
हैहयानां कुले जात: सुमित्रो मित्रनन्दन: । चरामि मृगयूथानि निघ्नन् बाणै: सहस्रश:
haihayānāṃ kule jātaḥ sumitro mitranandanaḥ | carāmi mṛgayūthāni nighnan bāṇaiḥ sahasraśaḥ ||
भीष्म बोले— “तपोधन! मेरा जन्म हैहय-कुल में हुआ है। मैं मित्रों का आनन्द बढ़ाने वाला राजा सुमित्र हूँ। मैं विचरता हुआ सहस्रों बाणों से मृग-समूहों का संहार करता रहता हूँ।”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse implicitly raises the dharmic question of how power and martial ability should be used: lineage and prowess can be proclaimed with pride, yet the act described—slaughtering animal herds for sport—invites reflection on restraint (saṃyama) and the proper aims of a kṣatriya’s strength.
A speaker (within Bhishma’s discourse) introduces himself as Sumitra of the Haihaya line, describing his roaming life and his practice of killing herds of deer with countless arrows—setting up characterization and a moral backdrop for the surrounding discussion in the Śānti Parva.