Shloka 39

उपायधर्म-सेनायोगः

Upāya-dharma and Senāyoga: Expedient Ethics & Army Deployment

Devanagari script

यस्य सम संग्रामगता यशो वै घ्नन्ति शत्रवः । तदसहातरं दुःखमहं मन्ये वधादपि,संग्रामभूमिमें आये हुए शत्रु जिसके यशका नाश कर देते हैं। उसके लिये उस दुःखको मैं मरणसे भी बढ़कर असहा मानता हूँ

Transliteration

yasya samare saṅgrāmagatā yaśo vai ghnanti śatravaḥ | tad asahātaraṃ duḥkham ahaṃ manye vadhād api ||

Translation

หากในสนามรบเมื่อเผชิญหน้ากัน ศัตรูทำลายเกียรติยศและชื่อเสียงของผู้ใด ความทุกข์นั้นเราถือว่าเหลือทนยิ่งกว่าความตายเสียอีก

Word by Word

यस्यof whom/whose

सम्together; fully (as prefix/particle)

संग्रामगताgone to battle; having come to the battlefield

यशःfame, glory

वैindeed, surely

घ्नन्तिthey strike down/destroy

शत्रवःenemies

तत्that

असहातरम्more unbearable

दुःखम्sorrow, pain

अहम्I

मन्येI think/consider

वधात्than killing/death

अपिeven, also

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhishma

enemies (śatravaḥ)

battlefield (saṅgrāma)

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?

Bhishma teaches that for one bound by warrior-ethics, the destruction of one’s honor and fame in open battle is a suffering more intolerable than death; moral and social integrity (yaśas) is treated as a value higher than mere survival.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Shanti Parva, Bhishma instructs Yudhishthira on dharma and conduct. Here he reflects on the battlefield context, stating that when enemies in war ruin a person’s reputation, that disgrace is felt as worse than being slain.