musings 175

A friend asked..

Bhishma says it is pathetic for a soldier to die in illness and old age. Is the idea not weird?

Let me answer

The veteran warhorse that Bhishma is just underlines the pride of a soldier.He is not inviting illness or suicide.

The glory of a fighter and soldier is eulogized here. The basic idea us that a soldier should never retreat from his duty.

If he is martyred in that process there is glory for him..

But in the lifetime of every soldier challenges do happen and often he departs in the glory of war.

Poets sometimes exaggerate to bring home the supreme ideas.

That does not decry peace and stability of a state in any manner and definitely it is not a call for suicide.

The chances of a soldier dying of war wounds is more than his getting old and dying of illness.

By birth and by call of duty ever soldier is bound by duty to defend his nation and dependents even if the price to be paid is his own life.

This applies to a policeman and even to a civil servant in certain cases.

For such a veteran soldier like Bhishmacharya the thought that a kshatriya or soldier should die in battle and not lying helpless in the grip of diseases is so natural.

Dharunah kshatradharmah दारूणः क्षत्रधर्मः means the rules prescribed for a soldier are rather strict even bordering on harshness.

Even brahmana dharma and yati dharma are like that.

Fear of death and waiting for old age and illness to take us away is not prescribed for any man of honour