Shloka 11

भीष्म–रामजामदग्न्ययुद्धप्रस्थानवर्णनम्

Bhishma’s Account of Parashurama’s Challenge and the March to Kurukshetra

Devanagari script

ततो5हमस्त्र॑ वायव्यं जामदग्न्ये प्रयुक्तवान्‌ । प्रत्याजघ्ने च तद्‌ रामो गुह्मुकास्त्रेण भारत,उस समय आकाशमें चारों ओर बड़ा कोलाहल होने लगा। इसी समय मैंने जमदग्निकुमारपर वायव्यास्त्रका प्रयोग किया। भारत! परशुरामजीने गुह्ुकास्त्रद्वारा मेरे उस अस्त्रको शान्त कर दिया

Transliteration

tato ’ham astraṃ vāyavyaṃ jāmadagnye prayuktavān | pratyājaghne ca tad rāmo guhmukāstreṇa bhārata ||

Translation

അപ്പോൾ ഞാൻ ജമദഗ്നിപുത്രനോടു വായവ്യാസ്ത്രം പ്രയോഗിച്ചു. എന്നാൽ, ഹേ ഭാരതാ! രാമൻ (പരശുരാമൻ) ഗുഹ്മുകാസ്ത്രംകൊണ്ട് അതിനെ പ്രതിഘാതിച്ച് ശമിപ്പിച്ചു.

Word by Word

• {'tataḥ': 'then, thereafter', 'aham': 'I (Bhīṣma)', 'astram': 'weapon

• missile (often a mantra-empowered projectile)', 'vāyavyam': 'belonging to Vāyu

• the Wind-weapon', 'jāmadagnye': 'to Jāmadagnya

• to the son/descendant of Jamadagni (Paraśurāma)', 'prayuktavān': 'having employed

• having discharged', 'pratyājaghne': 'struck back

• repelled', 'tat': 'that (weapon/missile)', 'rāmaḥ': 'Rāma (Paraśurāma)', 'guhmuka-astreṇa': 'by the Guhmuka weapon (a specific counter-missile/astric technique)', 'bhārata': 'O Bhārata (address to a descendant of Bharata

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Rāma (Paraśurāma, Jāmadagnya)
• Vāyavyāstra
• Guhmukāstra
• Bhārata (addressee)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Power in dharmic warfare includes restraint and proportional response: a destructive weapon should be checked by a fitting countermeasure, showing mastery over violence rather than indulgence in it.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīṣma narrates that he launched the Vāyavyāstra at Paraśurāma (Jāmadagnya), and Paraśurāma immediately countered it using the Guhmukāstra, nullifying Bhīṣma’s attack.