Shloka 35
विनिधघ्नन् पृथिवीपालांश्वेदिपाज्चालकेकयान्,“मूर्ख दुर्योधन नौकारहित विपत्तिके सागरमें डूब रहा था; अत: भीष्मजी उसका उद्धार करना चाहते थे, उन्होंने चेदि, पांचाल तथा केकयनरेशोंका वध करते हुए, रथ, घोड़ों और रथियोंसे भरी हुई पाण्डवसेनाको भस्म कर डाला
vinidhaghnan pṛthivīpālāñ chedi-pāñcāla-kekayān | “mūrkha duryodhana naukārahitaḥ vipattike sāgare dūba rahā thā; ataḥ bhīṣmaḥ tasya uddhāraṃ kartum aicchat | sa cedi-pāñcāla-kekaya-nṛpān vadhayan ratha-aśva-rathibhiḥ paripūrṇāṃ pāṇḍava-senāṃ bhasma-sāt cakāra” ||
三阇耶说道：“毗湿摩为救那愚昧的难敌（Duryodhana）——如同要拯救一个在祸患之海中无舟可依、正将沉没之人——一面诛杀车底、般遮罗与计迦耶诸王，一面焚灭了潘度族大军；其军中战车、战马与车战勇士密布如林。”此段将毗湿摩的凶烈描绘为对己方领袖的忠护之举，却也更深地加重了战争中骨肉相残的道德悲剧。
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how loyalty and the impulse to protect one’s own can drive extreme violence in war. It implicitly raises a dharmic tension: even a revered elder like Bhishma, acting from duty and allegiance, becomes an instrument of vast destruction—showing how adharma at the leadership level (Duryodhana’s folly) pulls many into catastrophic consequences.
Sanjaya describes Bhishma’s battlefield onslaught: to save Duryodhana, portrayed as drowning in a crisis, Bhishma kills prominent allied kings of the Pandavas’ side (Cedi, Panchala, Kekaya) and devastates the Pandava forces filled with chariots, horses, and chariot-fighters.