Shloka 14
Kṣātra-dharma in Campaign and Battle: Protection, Purification, and the Ideal Warrior’s End (क्षात्रधर्मः—अभियानयुद्धे रक्षणदानशुद्धिः)
समरभूमिमें उसके शरीरसे जो रक्त बहता है, उस रक्तके साथ ही वह सम्पूर्ण पापोंसे मुक्त हो जाता है ।। यानि दुःखानि सहते क्षत्रियो युधि तापित: । तेन तेन तपो भूय इति धर्मविदो विदु:
samarabhūmau tasya śarīrāt yo raktaḥ sravati, tena raktena saha sa sarvapāpebhyaḥ pramucyate. yāni duḥkhāni sahate kṣatriyo yudhi tāpitaḥ, tena tena tapo bhūya iti dharmavido viduḥ.
Di medan perang, darah apa pun yang mengalir dari tubuhnya—bersama darah itu pula ia terbebas dari seluruh dosa. Dan segala derita yang ditanggung seorang kṣatriya, ketika tersengat panasnya pertempuran, dalam ukuran yang sama menjadi pertambahan tapa (laku asketis); demikian dipahami para ahli dharma.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma frames the righteous hardships of battle for a kshatriya as a form of tapas: disciplined endurance that purifies. The verse asserts that suffering and bloodshed borne in the line of duty (not for greed or cruelty) is understood by dharma-knowers as expiatory, loosening the bonds of sin.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma after the war, Bhishma teaches Yudhishthira about duties and moral logic for different social roles. Here he explains how the kshatriya’s battlefield ordeal—its pain, heat, and bleeding—functions as a purifying consequence of fulfilling one’s ordained protective duty.