Shloka 18
Bhīṣma’s Appraisal of Pāṇḍava-Alliance Warriors (Śikhaṇḍin, Dhṛṣṭadyumna, and Allied Kings)
राक्षसेष्वथ यक्षेषु नरेषु कुत एव तु । भूतो5थवा भविष्यो वा रथ: वक्चिन्मया श्रुत:
rākṣaseṣv atha yakṣeṣu nareṣu kuta eva tu | bhūto 'thavā bhaviṣyo vā rathaḥ kaścin mayā śrutaḥ ||
ビーシュマは言った。「羅刹と夜叉の中においてさえ—まして人間においては言うまでもない—比べ得る者はない。過去であれ未来であれ、かかる車戦の勇士を私は聞いたことがない。」この讃辞により、ビーシュマはアルジュナの比類なき武威を示し、真の力は稀なるがゆえに、驕りや残虐ではなくダルマにかなう目的へと結びつけられるべきだと含意する。
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Exceptional power and skill are acknowledged as rare and almost unparalleled, but the implied ethical point is that such prowess gains true worth only when directed by dharma rather than by arrogance or destructive intent.
Bhīṣma is speaking in the Udyoga Parva context of assessing warriors and the coming conflict, offering authoritative praise that no being—whether among supernatural classes or humans, in past or future—matches the chariot-warrior he has in mind (understood as Arjuna).