Shloka 62

Varṇa-dharma and Rājadharma: Yudhiṣṭhira’s Inquiry and Bhīṣma’s Normative Outline (वर्णधर्म-राजधर्म-प्रश्नोत्तरम्)

Devanagari script

यन्त्राणि विविधान्येव क्रियास्तेषां च वर्णिता: । अवमर्द: प्रतीघात: केतनानां च भज्जनम्‌

Transliteration

yantrāṇi vividhāny eva kriyās teṣāṃ ca varṇitāḥ | avamardaḥ pratīghātaḥ ketanānāṃ ca bhajjanam ||

Translation

भीष्म ने कहा—वहाँ नाना प्रकार के यन्त्रों (युद्ध-यन्त्रों) और उनकी क्रियाओं का भी वर्णन है। शत्रु के राष्ट्र को कुचल देना, उसकी सेनाओं पर प्रहार करना और उनके निवास-स्थानों को तोड़-फोड़ देना—इन सब बातों का भी उस ग्रंथ में उल्लेख है।

Word by Word

• {'yantrāṇi': 'machines, devices

• here, military engines and contrivances', 'vividhāni': 'various, of many kinds', 'eva': 'indeed, precisely', 'kriyāḥ': 'operations, procedures, modes of action', 'teṣām': 'of those (devices/engines)', 'ca': 'and', 'varṇitāḥ': 'described, set forth', 'avamardaḥ': 'crushing, suppression, trampling down (of an enemy/realm)', 'pratīghātaḥ': 'counter-stroke, striking back

• an attack/repulse', 'ketanānām': 'of camps, banners/standards

• by extension, encampments and military stations', 'bhajjanam': 'breaking, shattering, disrupting'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• yantra (war-engines)
• ketana (camps/standards)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhīṣma notes that a treatise on governance and warfare includes detailed knowledge of military technology and tactics—how devices are used, how an enemy’s power is checked, and how camps and positions are disrupted—implying that a ruler’s dharma includes practical preparedness alongside ethical restraint.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on kingship and policy, Bhīṣma is enumerating what is covered in authoritative teachings: descriptions of different war-engines and the tactical actions of crushing, striking, and breaking enemy encampments.