Shloka 93

भीष्मपर्व — अध्याय ११०: पार्थभीमयोः प्रहारः तथा भीष्माभिमुखं संग्रामविस्तारः

Arjuna and Bhima’s pressure; escalation toward Bhishma

Devanagari script

यस्याहमधिरुह्याडुकं बाल: किल गदाग्रज । तातेत्यवोचं पितरं पितु: पाण्डोर्महात्मन:,“गदाग्रज! कहते हैं, मैं बचपनमें अपने पिता महात्मा पाण्डुके भी पितृतुल्य भीष्मजीकी गोदमें चढ़कर जब उन्हें तात कहकर पुकारता था, उस समय उस बाल्यावस्थामें ही वे मुझसे इस प्रकार कहते थे--“भरतनन्दन! मैं तुम्हारा तात नहीं, तुम्हारे पिताका तात हूँ।' वे ही वृद्ध पितामह मेरे द्वारा मारनेयोग्य कैसे हो सकते हैं?

Transliteration

yasyāham adhiruhyāṅkaṃ bālaḥ kila gadāgraja | tātety avocaṃ pitaraṃ pituḥ pāṇḍor mahātmanaḥ ||

Translation

सञ्जय उवाच—गदाग्रज! श्रूयते यदहं बालः सन् तस्यैवाङ्कमारुह्य ‘तात’ इति तमवोचम्; स च मामेव बाल्येऽपि प्रत्यवदत्—‘भरतनन्दन! नाहं तव तातः, तव पितुस्तातोऽस्मि।’ स एव वृद्धः पितामहः कथं मया वध्यः स्यात्?

Word by Word

यस्यof whom

अहम्I

अधिरुह्यhaving climbed upon

अङ्कम्lap

बालःa child

किलindeed / they say

गदाग्रजO elder brother of Gada (Krishna)

तातO father / dear father

इतिthus (quotative)

अवोचम्I said

पितरम्father

पितुःof (my) father

पाण्डोःof Pandu

महात्मनःof the great-souled

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sanjaya

Bhishma (implied as the grandsire on whose lap the child sits)

Pandu

Bharata lineage (as in 'Bharatanandana')

Gada (mace) (via epithet gadāgraja)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse foregrounds the dharmic tension between the duty of war and the duty of reverence toward elders: even when battle demands violence, one’s conscience recoils from harming a revered guardian who functioned as a father.

What is happening in the narrative?

A speaker recalls childhood intimacy with the aged grandsire—climbing onto his lap and calling him ‘father’—and the grandsire’s correction that he is the father’s father. This memory is used to argue that such a venerable elder cannot be considered a proper target for killing.