Shloka 52

पापात्म-धर्मात्म-लक्षणम् तथा निर्वेदेन मोक्षमार्गः | Marks of the Sinful and the Righteous; Dispassion (Nirveda) as a Path to Liberation

Devanagari script

हत्वा साध्वीं च नारीं च व्यसनित्वाच्च वासिताम्‌ | भर्तव्यत्वेन भार्यां च को नु मां तारयिष्यति

Transliteration

hatvā sādhvīṁ ca nārīṁ ca vyasanitvāc ca vāsitām | bhartavyatvena bhāryāṁ ca ko nu māṁ tārayiṣyati

Translation

భీష్ముడు పలికెను—సాధ్వీ స్త్రీని హతమార్చి, అలాగే విపత్తులో పడి దుఃఖజీవితం గడపవలసి వచ్చిన స్త్రీనూ హతమార్చి; భార్యను కేవలం పోషించవలసిన భారంగా భావించి స్వీకరించి—ఇప్పుడు నన్నెవరు రక్షించగలరు?

Word by Word

हत्वाhaving killed

साध्वीम्a virtuous woman

चand

नारीम्a woman

चand

व्यसनित्वात्because of (my) being in misfortune / from misfortune

चand

वासिताम्made to live (kept/maintained)

भर्तव्यत्वेनby/with the obligation of being supported (as one to be maintained)

भार्याम्wife

चand

कःwho?

नुindeed/then (interrogative particle)

माम्me

तारयिष्यतिwill save/deliver

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhishma

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 frames moral accountability: grievous harm done to the vulnerable and treating marriage as mere maintenance rather than dharmic partnership are presented as burdens of wrongdoing, prompting the urgent question of who can ‘deliver’ one from the consequences—implying the need for repentance, restitution, and dharmic conduct.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhishma speaks in a confessional, self-questioning tone, listing acts he regards as ethically weighty—violence against women and a failure to honor the deeper duties of marriage—and asks who can rescue him from the resulting moral peril.