Mahabharata — Shalya Parva, Shloka 29
Bhīma–Duryodhana Gadāyuddha Saṃkalpa
Resolve for the Mace Duel
पदातिर्गदया संख्ये स युध्यतु मया सह | मैं हर्षक साथ कह रहा हूँ कि 'तुममेंसे कोई भी एक वीर जो मुझ अकेलेको जीत सकनेका अभिमान रखता हो, वह रणभूमिमें पैदल ही गदाद्वारा मेरे साथ युद्ध करे' ।।
padātir gadayā saṅkhye sa yudhyatu mayā saha | mayā harṣakena saha ucyate—yūyaṃ madhye yaḥ kaścid vīraḥ yo mām ekākinam jetum abhimanyate sa raṇabhūmau padā eva gadayā mayā saha yudhyatām || vṛttāni rathayuddhāni vicitrāṇi pade pade ||
Duryodhana said: “Let him fight with me in battle—on foot, with a mace. I declare this with confidence: whichever hero among you prides himself on being able to defeat me alone, let him come onto the battlefield and engage me, fighting on foot with the mace. The chariot-duels have run their course; at every step the contest has taken strange turns.”
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the warrior-code ideal of direct, personal combat and the moral tension between valor and ego: Duryodhana frames the duel as an honorable test of strength, yet his challenge is driven by abhimāna (pride), showing how dharma-language can be used to justify self-assertion in war.
In the Shalya Parva, as the war nears its end, Duryodhana calls for a decisive single combat. He invites any opposing hero who claims he can defeat him alone to fight him on foot with maces, implying that the era of chariot engagements has passed and the battle has reached a climactic, unusual turning point.
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