Shloka 52

Udyoga-parva Adhyāya 28: Dharmādharmalakṣaṇa in Āpad

Crisis-Discernment of Right and Wrong

Devanagari script

द्यूतके समय जब पाण्डव हार गये थे, तब दुर्योधनने उनके प्रति बड़ी भयानक और कड़वी बातें कही थीं; अतः सदा सावधान रहनेवाले भीमसेन युद्धके समय गदा हाथमें लेकर दुर्योधनको उन बातोंकी याद दिलायेंगे ।। सुयोधनो मन्युमयो महाद्रुम: स्कन्ध: कर्ण: शकुनिस्तस्य शाखा: । दुःशासन: पुष्पफले समद्धे मूलं राजा धृतराष्ट्रोइमनीषी

Transliteration

dyūtake samaye yadā pāṇḍavā hārāḥ gatāḥ, tadā duryodhanena teṣu prati bhayānakāḥ kaṭukāś ca vācaḥ uktāḥ; ataḥ sadā sāvadhāno 'pi bhīmasenaḥ yuddha-samaye gadāṃ haste gṛhītvā duryodhanaṃ tābhir vāgbhir anusmārayiṣyati || suyodhano manyumayo mahādrumaḥ, skandhaḥ karṇaḥ, śakunistasya śākhāḥ | duḥśāsanaḥ puṣpaphale samṛddhe, mūlaṃ rājā dhṛtarāṣṭro 'manīṣī ||

Translation

বায়ুদেৱে ক’লে— দ্যূতক্ৰীড়াত পাণ্ডৱসকল হাৰিলে দুঃৰ্যোধনে তেওঁলোকৰ প্ৰতি ভয়ংকৰ আৰু তিক্ত বাক্য কৈছিল। সেয়ে সদা সাৱধান ভীমসেনে যুদ্ধকালে গদা তুলি দুঃৰ্যোধনক সেই কথাবোৰ স্মৰণ কৰাই দিব। সুয়োধন (দুঃৰ্যোধন) ক্ৰোধময় এক মহাবৃক্ষ— কৰ্ণ তাৰ কাণ্ড, শকুনি তাৰ শাখা; দুঃশাসন তাৰ পুষ্প-ফলৰ সমৃদ্ধি; আৰু তাৰ মূল অবিবেচক ৰজা ধৃতৰাষ্ট্ৰ।

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'dyūta', 'definition': 'gambling

• dice-game'}, {'term': 'samaya', 'definition': 'occasion

• circumstance'}, {'term': 'pāṇḍava', 'definition': 'the sons of Pāṇḍu

• the Pāṇḍavas'}, {'term': 'hāra / hārāḥ', 'definition': 'defeat

• loss (especially in gambling)'}, {'term': 'bhayānaka', 'definition': 'terrifying

• dreadful'}, {'term': 'kaṭuka', 'definition': 'harsh

• cutting (speech)'}, {'term': 'vāc / vācaḥ', 'definition': 'speech

• utterance'}, {'term': 'sāvadhāna', 'definition': 'vigilant

• attentive'}, {'term': 'yuddha', 'definition': 'war

• battle'}, {'term': 'gadā', 'definition': 'mace (Bhīma’s weapon)'}, {'term': 'anusmārayati', 'definition': 'to remind

• to call to mind'}, {'term': 'manyu', 'definition': 'wrath

• fierce indignation'}, {'term': 'mahādruma', 'definition': 'great tree (metaphor for a powerful, growing evil)'}, {'term': 'skandha', 'definition': 'trunk

• main stem (of a tree)'}, {'term': 'śākhā', 'definition': 'branch'}, {'term': 'puṣpa-phala', 'definition': 'flowers and fruits

• outcomes/manifestations'}, {'term': 'samṛddha', 'definition': 'abundant

• flourishing'}, {'term': 'mūla', 'definition': 'root

• underlying cause'}, {'term': 'amanīṣī', 'definition': 'without good judgment

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vāyu-deva
• Pāṇḍavas
• Duryodhana (Suyodhana)
• Bhīmasena
• Gadā (mace)
• Karṇa
• Śakuni
• Duḥśāsana
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Cruel speech and unrighteous triumph (as in the dice-hall) plant seeds that ripen into inevitable confrontation. The verse frames adharma as a growing organism: anger-fed leadership, enabled by allies, and rooted in a ruler’s lack of discernment—showing how moral failure becomes systemic and bears violent consequences.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyu-deva foretells that Bhīma will, in battle, confront Duryodhana with the memory of his bitter insults from the gambling episode. He then characterizes the Kaurava faction through a tree-metaphor: Duryodhana as the wrathful tree, Karṇa as the trunk, Śakuni as the branches, Duḥśāsana as its flourishing flowers and fruits, and Dhṛtarāṣṭra as the unwise root sustaining it.