Shloka 256

Devanagari script

शिक्षाबलेन निहतं पित्रा तव विशाम्पते । भरतश्रेष्ठ] उस दसवें दिनके आनेपर एकमात्र भीष्मने युद्धमें मत्स्य और पांचालदेशकी सेनाओंके अगणित हाथी

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca | śikṣābalena nihataṃ pitrā tava viśāmpate |

Translation

संजय म्हणाला—प्रजानाथ! हे सर्व तुमच्या पित्याने आपल्या अस्त्र-शिक्षेच्या बळावरच केले. त्या दहाव्या दिवशी एकट्या भीष्माने रणांगणात मत्स्य व पांचालांच्या सेनेतील असंख्य हत्ती-घोडे मारून टाकले आणि सात महारथींचा वध केला. पुढे पाच हजार रथी मारून, तुमच्या पितृतुल्य भीष्माने त्या महायुद्धात आपल्या शस्त्र-शिक्षाबळाने चौदा हजार पायदळ, एक हजार हत्ती आणि दहा हजार घोड्यांचा संहार केला.

Word by Word

• शिक्षा-बलेन: by the strength of (weapon-)training
• शिक्षा-बलेन: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: शिक्षाबल
• Form: Neuter, Instrumental, Singular

• निहतम्: slain/struck down
• निहतम्: Karma
• Type: Verb
• Root: नि-हन्
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• पित्रा: by (your) father
• पित्रा: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: पितृ
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Singular

• तव: of you/your
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: युष्मद्
• Form: Genitive, Singular

• विशाम्-पते: O lord of the people
• Type: Noun
• Root: विशाम्पति
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sanjaya
• Dhritarashtra (implied addressee as viśāmpate)
• Bhishma (implied as ‘your father’ in this narrative frame)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The line highlights how disciplined training (śikṣā) becomes a decisive force (bala). Ethically, it points to the ambivalence of excellence: mastery and duty can produce awe-inspiring skill, yet in war that same skill magnifies destruction, raising questions about responsibility and the cost of kṣatriya action.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sanjaya, reporting to the king, attributes a killing/defeat to ‘your father’ (Bhishma) and specifically to the power of his weapons-training. In the surrounding passage (as reflected in the Hindi gloss), this functions as part of a broader description of Bhishma’s devastating battlefield performance and the heavy casualties inflicted.