Shloka 52
धृतराष्ट्र-संजय-संवादः — दुर्योधनस्य ह्रदप्रवेशः
Dhṛtarāṣṭra–Saṃjaya Dialogue: Duryodhana’s Entry into the Lake
निहतास्ते दुरात्मानो येडस्मानवहसन् पुरा । दुर्योधन: कुलाड्रार: शिष्टस्त्वं चास्य मातुल:,“जिन दुरात्माओंने पूर्वकालमें हमलोगोंकी हँसी उड़ायी थी, वे सब मारे गये। अब केवल कुलांगार दुर्योधन और उसका मामा तू--ये दो ही बच गये हैं। जैसे मथ डालनेवाले डंडेसे मारकर पेड़से फल तोड़ लिया जाता है, उसी प्रकार आज मैं क्षुरके द्वारा तेरा मस्तक काटकर तुझे मौतके हवाले कर दूँगा”
nihatās te durātmāno ye ’smān avahasan purā | duryodhanaḥ kulāṅgāraḥ śiṣṭas tvaṃ cāsya mātulaḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “Those wicked men who once mocked us in former days have been slain. Now only Duryodhana—the disgrace of his lineage—remains, and you, his maternal uncle. Today I shall sever your head with a razor-sharp blade and deliver you to death, just as fruit is struck down from a tree with a beating stick.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the moral arc of the epic: arrogance and cruelty that once expressed itself as mockery and humiliation ultimately meet retribution in war. It also shows how, in the late stage of the conflict, speech becomes a weapon—condemning adharma (wicked conduct) and framing the enemy as a ‘disgrace to the lineage,’ while justifying harsh action as the inevitable consequence of prior wrongdoing.
In Shalya Parva, as the war nears its end, the speaker reports a taunt/threat: most of the earlier mockers have been killed; only Duryodhana and his maternal uncle remain. The speaker vows to kill the uncle by cutting off his head with a razor-like blade, using a simile of knocking fruit from a tree with a stick to convey swift, forceful destruction.