Shloka 29
Kṣātra-dharma in Campaign and Battle: Protection, Purification, and the Ideal Warrior’s End (क्षात्रधर्मः—अभियानयुद्धे रक्षणदानशुद्धिः)
शूरो हि काममन्युभ्यामाविष्टो युध्यते भृशम् । हन्यमानानि गात्राणि परैर्नैवावबुध्यते
śūro hi kāma-manyubhyām āviṣṭo yudhyate bhṛśam | hanyamānāni gātrāṇi parair naivāvabudhyate ||
शूरवीर विजय की कामना और शत्रु के प्रति क्रोध से आविष्ट होकर अत्यन्त वेग से युद्ध करता है। शत्रुओं द्वारा उसके अंग कटते-फटते रहें, तो भी उसे उनकी सुध-बुध नहीं रहती।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma highlights how desire (kāma) and anger (manyu) can overpower awareness, driving a warrior to extreme action even amid severe injury—an ethical-psychological observation about the forces that propel violence and endurance in war.
In Bhishma’s instruction during the Śānti Parva, he describes the battlefield mindset of a heroic kṣatriya: possessed by the wish to win and by rage toward the enemy, he fights fiercely and scarcely notices his own wounds.