Shloka 41
Bhīṣma-nipāta-saṃvāda — Sañjaya’s Report of Bhīṣma’s Fall (भीष्मनिपातसंवादः)
यस्य वीर्य समाश्रित्य मम पुत्रो बृहद्धल: । न पाण्डवानगणयत् कथं स निहतः परै:,जिनके पराक्रमका आश्रय लेकर विशाल सेनाओंसे सम्पन्न मेरा पुत्र पाण्डवोंको कुछ नहीं गिनता था, वे शत्रुओंद्वारा किस प्रकार मारे गये?
yasya vīryaṃ samāśritya mama putro bṛhaddhalaḥ | na pāṇḍavān agaṇayat kathaṃ sa nihataḥ paraiḥ ||
Wika ni Dhṛtarāṣṭra: “Sa kaninong kagitingan umasa ang aking anak—malakas at may sandatahang napakalaki—kaya minamaliit niya ang mga Pāṇḍava; kung gayon, paano siya napatay ng iba (ng mga kaaway)?”
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how reliance on perceived power and contempt for others breeds delusion; in war, arrogance and misjudgment can lead to ruin, and grief then questions the very assumptions that fueled the conflict.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra, hearing of battlefield deaths, expresses astonishment and sorrow: his son, confident due to the support of a powerful champion and large forces, had dismissed the Pāṇḍavas—so Dhṛtarāṣṭra asks how such a son could nevertheless be killed by the opposing side.