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,खाटपर सोकर मरना क्षत्रियके लिये अधर्म है। जो क्षत्रिय कफ और मल-मूत्र छोड़ता तथा दुखी होकर विलाप करता हुआ बिना घायल हुए शरीरसे मृत्युको प्राप्त हो जाता है, उसके इस कर्मकी प्राचीन धर्मको जानने-वाले विद्वान् पुरुष प्रशंसा नहीं करते हैं
bhīṣma uvāca | adharmaḥ kṣatriyasya eṣa yacchayyāmaraṇaṃ bhavet | visṛjan śleṣmamūtrāṇi kṛpaṇaṃ paridevayan |
अधर्मः क्षत्रियस्यैष यच्छय्यामरणं भवेत् । विसृजन् श्लेष्ममूत्राणि कृपणं परिदेवयन् ॥
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.