Shloka 50
“महाबाहो! अपने धर्ममें स्थित रहनेवाले क्षत्रियको युद्धस्थलमें इसी प्रकार बाणशय्यापर शयन करना चाहिये! ।। एवमुकक््त्वा तु बीभत्सुं सर्वास्तानब्रवीद् वच: । राज्ञश्न राजपुत्रांश् पाण्डवानभिसंस्थितान्,अर्जुनसे ऐसा कहकर भीष्मने पाण्डवोंके पास खड़े हुए उन समस्त राजाओं और राजपुत्रोंसे कहा--
mahābāho! svadharme sthitaḥ kṣatriyo yuddhasthale evam eva bāṇaśayyāyāṃ śayīta. evam uktvā tu bībhatsuṃ sarvās tān abravīd vacaḥ; rājñaś ca rājaputrāṃś ca pāṇḍavān abhisthitān—arjunam evam uktvā bhīṣmaḥ pāṇḍavān prati sthitān sarvān rājñaḥ rājaputrāṃś ca uvāca.
Sanjaya said: “O mighty-armed one! A kshatriya who stands firm in his own duty should, on the battlefield, lie even upon a bed of arrows in this very manner.” Having spoken thus to Arjuna, Bhishma then addressed all those kings and princes who were standing near the Pandavas—framing his own suffering as a testimony to kshatriya-dharma and the uncompromising demands of righteous warfare.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents kshatriya-dharma as unwavering commitment to one’s rightful duty in war: even extreme pain—symbolized by lying on a bed of arrows—is to be endured without abandoning the warrior’s code of honor and responsibility.
Bhishma, already fallen and lying on the arrow-bed, speaks to Arjuna and then turns to address the assembled kings and princes near the Pandavas, using his own condition to underscore the ideal of steadfastness in battle and the ethical gravity of a kshatriya’s role.