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
bhīṣma uvāca | adharmaḥ kṣatriyasya eṣa yacchayyāmaraṇaṃ bhavet | visṛjan śleṣmamūtrāṇi kṛpaṇaṃ paridevayan |
Wika ni Bhīṣma: “Ito’y hindi matuwid para sa isang kṣatriya—ang mamatay sa higaan. Naglalabas ng plema at ihi, at humahagulhol nang kaawa-awa; ang ganitong kamatayan (na walang sugat at walang kabayanihan) ay hindi pinupuri ng mga pantas na nakaaalam ng sinaunang dharma.”
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.