Shloka 233
Gadā-yuddhe Bhīma–Duryodhanayoḥ Tumulaḥ Saṃprahāraḥ
Mace-duel’s intense exchange
समाप्तं भरतश्रेष्ठ मातापित्रोश्व दर्शनम् । “आज एक दिनमें इसका वध करके मैं अपने-आपसे उऋण हो जाऊँगा। भरतभूषण! आज दुर्बुद्धि एवं अजितात्मा धृतराष्ट्रपुत्रकी आयु समाप्त हो गयी है। इसे माता-पिताके दर्शनका अवसर भी अब नहीं मिलनेवाला है
samāptaṃ bharataśreṣṭha mātāpitror darśanam | “adya eka-dinena asya vadhaṃ kṛtvā ahaṃ svayam-ṛṇo bhaviṣyāmi | bharatabhūṣaṇa! adya durbuddhiḥ ajitātmā dhṛtarāṣṭra-putrasya āyuḥ samāptā | asmai mātā-pitṛ-darśanasya avasaro 'pi idānīṃ na bhaviṣyati”
三阇耶曰：“婆罗多族中至上者啊，他得以瞻见父母的机缘已然断绝。‘今日只在一日之内，杀了他，我便可自解我身之债。婆罗多族之荣饰啊！今日，持国之子——谋虑愚昧、不能自胜者——其寿命已至尽头；从此他连再见父母一面的机会也不复有。’”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage frames war-death as the culmination of moral and psychological failure: lack of self-mastery (ajitātmā) and misguided counsel (durbuddhi) lead to a fate where even basic human consolations—like seeing one’s parents—are cut off. It also highlights the warrior’s sense of obligation (ṛṇa) and the dangerous ethic of ‘repaying’ debts through violence.
Sañjaya reports that a Kaurava prince, identified as Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s son, is at the end of his life. A speaker within the reported speech declares that he will kill him that very day and thereby become ‘free of debt,’ while noting that the doomed prince will no longer have any chance to see his mother and father.