Shloka 24
Aśvatthāmā’s Buddhi-Doctrine and Nocturnal Incursion Resolve (अश्वत्थाम्नः बुद्धिविचारः सौप्तिकसंकल्पश्च)
मैं दिव्य धनुष और दिव्य अस्त्रोंको धारण करता हूँ तो भी युद्धमें अपने पिताको अन्यायपूर्वक मारा गया देखकर यदि उसका बदला न लूँ तो वीरोंकी सभामें क्या कहूँगा? ।।
so 'ham adya yathākāmam kṣatradharmam upāsya tam | gantāsmi padavīṁ rājñaḥ pituś cāpi mahātmanaḥ ||
「たとえ天の弓と天の武器を携えていようとも、戦において父が不義に討たれたのを見ながら復讐せぬなら、勇士の सभाで私は何を語れよう。ゆえに今日、我が意のままにクシャトリヤの法に依り、王と、そして偉大なる父の歩んだ道を我もまた歩む。」
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how appeals to kṣatriya-dharma and honor can be used to justify violent retaliation; it frames revenge as ‘duty,’ revealing the ethical tension between personal grief, social expectations of warrior conduct, and the risk of adharma when vengeance becomes the motive.
Sañjaya reports a warrior’s vow: after seeing his father killed unjustly and recalling his own divine weapons, he resolves to act according to kṣatriya conduct and to follow the path taken by his father and by King Duryodhana—i.e., to pursue retribution in the aftermath of the great war.