Shloka 105
भीष्मपर्व — अध्याय ११०: पार्थभीमयोः प्रहारः तथा भीष्माभिमुखं संग्रामविस्तारः
Arjuna and Bhima’s pressure; escalation toward Bhishma
अहमन्यान् महेष्वासान् वारयिष्यामि सायकै: । शिखण्ड्यपि युधां श्रेष्ठ भीष्ममेवाभियोधयेत्,मैं बाणोंद्वारा अन्य महाधनुर्धरोंको रोकूँगा। शिखण्डी भी योद्धाओंमें श्रेष्ठ भीष्मके साथ ही युद्ध करे
aham anyān maheṣvāsān vārayiṣyāmi sāyakaiḥ | śikhaṇḍy api yudhāṃ śreṣṭha bhīṣmam evābhiyodhayet ||
Arjuna said: “I shall hold back the other great bowmen with my arrows. And Śikhaṇḍin too—O best among warriors—should engage Bhīṣma alone in battle.” In this moment Arjuna accepts a strategic and moral burden: he will restrain the wider battlefield so that the confrontation with Bhīṣma proceeds in the one way deemed possible, reflecting the tension between reverence for an elder and the necessities of war-bound duty.
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights dharma under constraint: Arjuna balances reverence for Bhīṣma with the obligation to fulfill the war’s duty. He chooses a course that minimizes direct personal transgression (not seeking Bhīṣma’s fall by his own hand) while still enabling the army’s necessary objective through strategy and delegated engagement.
Arjuna declares a tactical division of labor on the battlefield: he will check the other powerful archers so they cannot interfere, while Śikhaṇḍin is to confront Bhīṣma directly. This sets up the focused engagement with Bhīṣma amid the larger Kurukṣetra conflict.