Shloka 256

Devanagari script

शिक्षाबलेन निहतं पित्रा तव विशाम्पते । भरतश्रेष्ठ] उस दसवें दिनके आनेपर एकमात्र भीष्मने युद्धमें मत्स्य और पांचालदेशकी सेनाओंके अगणित हाथी

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca | śikṣābalena nihataṃ pitrā tava viśāmpate |

Translation

三阇耶说道：噢，万民之主啊，那一切皆被你的父亲凭借严整武艺训练之力所歼灭。至第十日来临时，毗湿摩独自驰骋战场，斩杀了摩蹉与般遮罗军中不可胜数的象马，又诛灭七位大车战士。噢，护民之君啊，继而他又杀五千车兵；而那位如你父亲般的毗湿摩，凭其兵器教习之威，在这场大战中屠灭了一万四千步卒、一千战象与一万战马。

Word by Word

• शिक्षा-बलेन: by the strength of (weapon-)training
• शिक्षा-बलेन: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: शिक्षाबल
• Form: Neuter, Instrumental, Singular

• निहतम्: slain/struck down
• निहतम्: Karma
• Type: Verb
• Root: नि-हन्
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• पित्रा: by (your) father
• पित्रा: Karana
• Type: Noun
• Root: पितृ
• Form: Masculine, Instrumental, Singular

• तव: of you/your
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: युष्मद्
• Form: Genitive, Singular

• विशाम्-पते: O lord of the people
• Type: Noun
• Root: विशाम्पति
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sanjaya
• Dhritarashtra (implied addressee as viśāmpate)
• Bhishma (implied as ‘your father’ in this narrative frame)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The line highlights how disciplined training (śikṣā) becomes a decisive force (bala). Ethically, it points to the ambivalence of excellence: mastery and duty can produce awe-inspiring skill, yet in war that same skill magnifies destruction, raising questions about responsibility and the cost of kṣatriya action.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sanjaya, reporting to the king, attributes a killing/defeat to ‘your father’ (Bhishma) and specifically to the power of his weapons-training. In the surrounding passage (as reflected in the Hindi gloss), this functions as part of a broader description of Bhishma’s devastating battlefield performance and the heavy casualties inflicted.