Shloka 23
Kṣātra-dharma in Campaign and Battle: Protection, Purification, and the Ideal Warrior’s End (क्षात्रधर्मः—अभियानयुद्धे रक्षणदानशुद्धिः)
अधर्म: क्षत्रियस्यैष यच्छय्यामरणं भवेत् । विसृजन् श्लेष्ममूत्राणि कृपणं परिदेवयन्
bhīṣma uvāca | adharmaḥ kṣatriyasya eṣa yacchayyāmaraṇaṃ bhavet | visṛjan śleṣmamūtrāṇi kṛpaṇaṃ paridevayan |
Bhīṣma berkata: “Ini adalah adharma bagi seorang kṣatriya—apabila maut menjemputnya di atas ranjang. Meludah kahak dan membuang air, lalu meratap dengan hina; kematian demikian (tanpa luka dan tanpa kepahlawanan) tidak dipuji oleh orang bijaksana yang mengetahui dharma purba.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma asserts a norm of kshatriya-dharma: a warrior’s ideal end is not a helpless, bed-bound death marked by bodily decay and fearful lamentation, but a courageous, duty-aligned death—typically associated with battle or steadfastness.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhishma is advising on proper conduct for the warrior class, criticizing an unheroic death in bed accompanied by pitiable lamentation as something the tradition’s learned authorities do not commend.