Shloka 5
Chapter 61: Karṇa’s martial assurances and Bhīṣma’s strategic rebuttal in the Kuru assembly
निमेषमात्रात् तमृषे: प्रसाद- मवाप्य पाज्चालकरूषमत्स्यान् | निहत्य पार्थान् सह पुत्रपौत्रै- लॉकानहं शस्त्रजितान् प्रपत्स्ये,“महर्षि परशुरामका कृपाप्रसाद पाकर मैं पलक मारते-मारते पांचाल, करूष तथा मत्स्यदेशीय योद्धाओं और कुन्तीकुमारोंको पुत्र-पौत्रोंसहित मारकर शस्त्रद्वारा जीते हुए पुण्यलोकोंमें जाऊँगा
nimeṣamātrāt tam ṛṣeḥ prasādam avāpya pāñcālakurūṣamatsyān | nihatya pārthān saha putrapautraiḥ lokān ahaṃ śastrajitān prapatsye ||
Dengan memperoleh anugerah sang resi itu hanya dalam sekejap mata, aku akan menumpas para kesatria Pāñcāla, Karūṣa, dan Matsya, juga para Pārtha beserta putra dan cucu mereka; sesudah itu aku akan mencapai alam-alam mulia yang dimenangkan oleh pedang.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a morally tense idea: spiritual or ascetic favor (prasāda) is being invoked to justify rapid mass killing and to claim ‘earned’ heavenly realms through violence. It invites reflection on how power—especially sanctified power—can be misused when driven by pride and vengeance, and how dharma becomes contested in wartime rhetoric.
A speaker (reported by Vaiśampāyana) boasts that, having gained the grace of a great sage (identified in the accompanying tradition as Paraśurāma), he will in an instant destroy allied groups—Pāñcālas, Karūṣas, Matsyas—and the Pāṇḍavas along with their descendants, and then attain the worlds believed to be won by martial conquest.