Shloka 112
Dama-pradhāna-dharma (Self-restraint as the Root of Dharma) — Śānti-parva 154
ते प्रत्यूचुरिदं वाक््यं दुःखिता: प्रणता: स्थिता: । एकपुत्रविहीनानां सर्वेषां जीवितार्थिनाम्
te pratyūcur idaṃ vākyaṃ duḥkhitāḥ praṇatāḥ sthitāḥ | ekaputravihīnānāṃ sarveṣāṃ jīvitārthinām ||
彼らは深い悲嘆に沈み、頭を垂れて立ち、次の言葉で答えた――ただ一人の子を失った者のように、皆が命にすがり、なお生き続けるための手立てを懇願したのである。
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the ethical weight of compassion toward those crushed by personal loss: grief and vulnerability lead people to humility and supplication, reminding a ruler or elder to respond with sensitivity to suffering.
In Bhishma’s narration, a group of people—sorrowful and bowed down—respond to someone’s words. They identify themselves as bereft of an only son and as persons desperately seeking to preserve life, setting a tone of lament and appeal.