Shloka 5
निमेषमात्रात् तमृषे: प्रसाद- मवाप्य पाज्चालकरूषमत्स्यान् | निहत्य पार्थान् सह पुत्रपौत्रै- लॉकानहं शस्त्रजितान् प्रपत्स्ये,“महर्षि परशुरामका कृपाप्रसाद पाकर मैं पलक मारते-मारते पांचाल, करूष तथा मत्स्यदेशीय योद्धाओं और कुन्तीकुमारोंको पुत्र-पौत्रोंसहित मारकर शस्त्रद्वारा जीते हुए पुण्यलोकोंमें जाऊँगा
nimeṣamātrāt tam ṛṣeḥ prasādam avāpya pāñcālakurūṣamatsyān | nihatya pārthān saha putrapautraiḥ lokān ahaṃ śastrajitān prapatsye ||
Sinabi ni Vaiśampāyana: “Sa kisap-mata, matapos makamtan ang mapagpalang biyaya ng pantas na iyon, papatayin ko ang mga mandirigma ng Pāñcāla, Karūṣa, at Matsya, at pati ang mga Pārtha kasama ang kanilang mga anak at apo; at saka ko mararating ang mga marangal na daigdig na napapanalunan sa pamamagitan ng tabak.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a morally tense idea: spiritual or ascetic favor (prasāda) is being invoked to justify rapid mass killing and to claim ‘earned’ heavenly realms through violence. It invites reflection on how power—especially sanctified power—can be misused when driven by pride and vengeance, and how dharma becomes contested in wartime rhetoric.
A speaker (reported by Vaiśampāyana) boasts that, having gained the grace of a great sage (identified in the accompanying tradition as Paraśurāma), he will in an instant destroy allied groups—Pāñcālas, Karūṣas, Matsyas—and the Pāṇḍavas along with their descendants, and then attain the worlds believed to be won by martial conquest.