Shloka 25
Dyūta-āhvāna: Śakuni’s Proposal, Vidura’s Warning, and the Summons of Yudhiṣṭhira
Sabhā-parva 51
बल्यर्थ ददतस्तस्य नानारूपाननेकश: । कृष्णग्रीवान् महाकायान् रासभाञठ्छतपातिन: । अहार्षुर्दशसाहस्रान् विनीतान् दिक्षु विश्रुतान्
balyarthaṃ dadatastasya nānārūpānanekaśaḥ | kṛṣṇagrīvān mahākāyān rāsabhāñ chatapātinaḥ | āharṣur daśasāhasrān vinītān dikṣu viśrutān |
قال دوريوذانا: «ولمّا كانت الهدايا تُقدَّم له بغزارة وبشتى الصور، جُلبت عشرةُ آلافِ حمارٍ جزيةً—سودُ الأعناق، عظامُ الأجساد، تقطع مئةَ كروشا دون توقّف. كانت مُدرَّبةً ومشهورةً في كل الجهات.»
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage illustrates how external success—wealth, tribute, and fame—can become a moral test for observers: envy and resentment may twist perception, turning another’s prosperity into fuel for hostility rather than prompting self-restraint and ethical reflection.
Duryodhana is recounting the scale and variety of tribute presented at the great royal occasion associated with Yudhiṣṭhira’s rising prestige, emphasizing even unusual gifts (ten thousand trained, long-distance donkeys) to convey the magnitude of the gathering and his own growing bitterness.