Shloka 19
स्त्रीपर्व — गान्धारीभीमसेनसंवादः
Strī-parva — Gāndhārī–Bhīmasena Dialogue on Wartime Conduct
कि तु कर्माकरोद् भीमो वासुदेवस्य पश्यत: । दुर्योधनं समाहूय गदायुद्धे महामना:,परंतु महामना भीमसेनने गदायुद्धके लिये दुर्योधनको बुलाकर श्रीकृष्णके देखते-देखते उसके प्रति जो बर्ताव किया है, वह मुझे अच्छा नहीं लगा। वह रणभूमिमें अनेक प्रकारके पैंतरे दिखाता हुआ विचर रहा था; अतः शिक्षामें उसे अपनेसे अधिक जान भीमने जो उसकी नाभिसे नीचे प्रहार किया, इनके इसी बर्तावने मेरे क्रोधको बढ़ा दिया है
vaiśampāyana uvāca | kiṃ tu karmākarod bhīmo vāsudevasya paśyataḥ | duryodhanaṃ samāhūya gadāyuddhe mahāmanāḥ |
Vaiśampāyana said: “Yet the deed that Bhīma performed—right before Vāsudeva’s eyes—by calling Duryodhana into a mace-duel, does not sit well with me. For Duryodhana was moving about on the battlefield displaying many kinds of feints and maneuvers; and though Bhīma knew him to be superior in this discipline, he struck him below the navel. It is precisely this conduct that has inflamed my anger.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even in a just cause, violating agreed rules of combat (maryādā) creates ethical discomfort and invites censure; the epic highlights the tension between victory, vengeance, and dharma.
After the war, the narrator reflects critically on Bhīma’s conduct in the mace-duel: in Kṛṣṇa’s presence Bhīma challenges Duryodhana and then strikes him below the navel—an act viewed as against the norms of gadāyuddha—provoking the speaker’s anger.