दुर्योधन उवाच
किमर्थं भरतश्रेष्ठ न हन्यास् त्वं शिखण्डिनम् ॥
उद्यतेषुम् अथो दृष्ट्वा समरेष्व् आततायिनम् ॥
पूर्वम् उक्त्वा महाबाहो पाण्डवान् सह सोमकैः ॥
वधिष्यामीति गाङ्गेय तन् मे ब्रूहि पितामह ॥
भीष्म उवाच
शृणु दुर्योधन कथां सहैभिर् वसुधाधिपैः ॥
यदर्थं युधि संप्रेक्ष्य नाहं हन्यां शिखण्डिनम् ॥
महाराजो मम पिता शंतनुर् भरतर्षभः ॥
दिष्टान्तं प्राप धर्मात्मा समये पुरुषर्षभ ॥
ततो ऽहं भरतश्रेष्ठ प्रतिज्ञां परिपालयन् ॥
चित्राङ्गदं भ्रातरं वै महाराज्ये ऽभ्यषेचयम् ॥
duryodhana uvāca
kimarthaṃ bharataśreṣṭha na hanyās tvaṃ śikhaṇḍinam ||
udyateṣum atho dṛṣṭvā samareṣv ātatāyinam ||
pūrvam uktvā mahābāho pāṇḍavān saha somakaiḥ ||
vadhiṣyāmīti gāṅgeya tan me brūhi pitāmaha ||
bhīṣma uvāca
śṛṇu duryodhana kathāṃ sahaibhir vasudhādhipaiḥ ||
yadarthaṃ yudhi saṃprekṣya nāhaṃ hanyāṃ śikhaṇḍinam ||
mahārājo mama pitā śaṃtanur bharatarṣabhaḥ ||
diṣṭāntaṃ prāpa dharmātmā samaye puruṣarṣabha ||
tato 'haṃ bharataśreṣṭha pratijñāṃ paripālayan ||
citrāṅgadaṃ bhrātaraṃ vai mahārājye 'bhyaṣecayam ||
Duryodhana said: Why, O best of the Bharatas, will you not kill Shikhandin when you see him in battle, bow drawn, coming at you as an assailant? Before, O mighty-armed son of Ganga, you said: 'I will kill the Pandavas together with the Somakas.' Explain this to me, O grandfather. Bhishma said: Listen, Duryodhana, together with these lords of the earth, to the account of why, on seeing Shikhandin in battle, I will not kill him. My father, the great King Shantanu, O bull among the Bharatas, righteous of soul, met his death at the appointed time, O best of men. Then I, O best of the Bharatas, keeping my vow, anointed my brother Chitrangada to the great kingdom.
4a7cf1402d29 · published Jul 17, 2026, 6:32:37 AM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Bhishma answers Duryodhana not with abstract reasoning but with the story of his own vow and deeds. The account of the svayamvara of the king of Kashi shows his former might: alone, he defeated the assembled kings and carried off the princesses to continue the line of Kuru. Yet this very story leads to Shikhandin and to the boundary Bhishma will not cross: his martial power is subordinate to his vow, not the other way around.