सो ऽनपत्यश् च वृद्धश् च मिथ्याधर्मानुशासनात् ॥
हंसवत् त्वम् अपीदानीं ज्ञातिभ्यः प्राप्नुया वधम् ॥
एवं हि कथयन्त्य् अन्ये नरा ज्ञानविदः पुरा ॥
भीष्म यत् तद् अहं सम्यग् वक्ष्यामि तव शृण्वतः ॥
वृद्धः किल समुद्रान्ते कश् चिद् धंसो ऽभवत् पुरा ॥
धर्मवाग् अन्यथावृत्तः पक्षिणः सो ऽनुशास्ति ह ॥
so 'napatyaś ca vṛddhaś ca mithyādharmānuśāsanāt ||
haṃsavat tvam apīdānīṃ jñātibhyaḥ prāpnuyā vadham ||
evaṃ hi kathayanty anye narā jñānavidaḥ purā ||
bhīṣma yat tad ahaṃ samyag vakṣyāmi tava śṛṇvataḥ ||
vṛddhaḥ kila samudrānte kaś cid dhaṃso 'bhavat purā ||
dharmavāg anyathāvṛttaḥ pakṣiṇaḥ so 'nuśāsti ha ||
"Childless and old, [sunk] in false dharma-teaching, you, like that swan, shall now receive death from your kinsmen. For so tell, from of old, other men, knowers, O Bhishma; and I will truly tell you this, as you listen. There lived once, they say, on the shore of the sea a certain old swan — one who preached dharma yet acted otherwise — and he taught the birds."
ad13ffc73897 · published Jul 16, 2026, 3:40:28 PM UTC
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Shishupala foretells death for Bhishma "at the hands of kinsmen" and spins a parable about a hypocritical swan. It is telling that in his malice he unknowingly utters a truth about what is to come: Bhishma will indeed fall in a war of kinsmen — but not as an exposed hypocrite, rather as a revered elder who fulfilled his duty to the end. The verse teaches that a prophecy born of malice can come true to the letter while remaining false in meaning: the death of a righteous man in a war of relatives is no disgrace of a deceiving swan but the crown of faithfulness. And whoever paints upon a saint the fate of a scoundrel errs not about the event but about its meaning — for one and the same death crowns one man and condemns another.