Shloka 33
दुर्योधनस्य बलिवर्णनम् — Duryodhana’s Description of Tribute at the Rājasūya
सोऊहं न स्त्री न चाप्यस्त्री न पुमान्नापुमानपि । योऊहं तां मर्षयाम्यद्य तादृशीं श्रियमागताम्
so ’haṁ na strī na cāpy astrī na pumān nāpumān api | yo ’haṁ tāṁ marṣayāmy adya tādṛśīṁ śriyam āgatām ||
Duryodhana sprach: „Was bin ich jetzt für einer? Weder bin ich eine Frau, noch ein Unbewaffneter, weder ein Mann noch gar ein Eunuch—und dennoch ertrage ich es noch heute schweigend, zu sehen, wie solch glänzender Reichtum in die Hände meiner Feinde gelangt!“
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse exposes how envy and wounded pride can distort self-judgment: Duryodhana measures worth by dominance and possession, and condemns his own restraint as weakness, revealing an ethical collapse where inner control is not valued as virtue.
In the Sabha Parva context, Duryodhana is reacting to the rise and splendor of his rivals (the Pāṇḍavas). Seeing their prosperity, he vents self-disgust and frustration that he is ‘enduring’ their success instead of countering it, foreshadowing his drive toward hostility.