Chapter I · Śloka 12
Sañjaya uvāca
तस्य सञ्जनयन्हर्षं कुरुवृद्धः पितामहः |
सिंहनादं विनद्योच्चैः शङ्खं दध्मौ प्रतापवान् ||
सिंहनादं विनद्योच्चैः शङ्खं दध्मौ प्रतापवान् ||
tasya sañjanayan harṣaṃ kuru-vṛddhaḥ pitāmahaḥ |
siṃha-nādaṃ vinadyoccaiḥ śaṅkhaṃ dadhmau pratāpavān ||
siṃha-nādaṃ vinadyoccaiḥ śaṅkhaṃ dadhmau pratāpavān ||
Then the great grandsire Bhishma, the eldest of the Kuru dynasty, blew his conch-shell with a lion's roar, gladdening Duryodhana's heart.
Bhishma answers not with words but with a lion's roar — the sound of commitment. He gladdens Duryodhana's heart even as he fights a war he privately knows is wrong. Bhishma's tragedy is that his loyalty and his wisdom have become irreconcilable.