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Shloka 163

उद्योगपर्व (अध्याय १२९) — केशवस्य वैभवप्रदर्शनम् / Krishna’s Theophanic Display in the Kuru Assembly

पटेनाग्निं प्रजवबलितं यथा बाला यथा जडा: । “जैसे बालक और जड बुद्धिवाले लोग जलती आगको कपड़ेमें बाँधना चाहें, उसी प्रकार ये मन्दबुद्धि कौरव इन कमलनयन भगवान्‌ श्रीकृष्णको यहाँ कैद करना चाहते हैं!

paṭenāgniṁ prajvalitaṁ yathā bālā yathā jaḍāḥ |

Vaiśampāyana sprach: Wie törichte Kinder oder stumpfsinnige Menschen versuchen würden, ein loderndes Feuer in Stoff zu wickeln, so trachten diese verblendeten Kauravas danach, hier Śrī Kṛṣṇa, den lotusäugigen Herrn, gefangen zu setzen—eine Tat, so unmöglich wie moralisch blind.

पटेनwith a cloth
पटेन:
Karana
TypeNoun
Rootपट
FormMasculine/Neuter, Instrumental, Singular
अग्निंfire
अग्निं:
Karma
TypeNoun
Rootअग्नि
FormMasculine, Accusative, Singular
प्रज्वलितंblazing, kindled
प्रज्वलितं:
TypeAdjective
Rootप्र-√ज्वल
FormMasculine, Accusative, Singular
यथाas, just as
यथा:
TypeIndeclinable
Rootयथा
बालाःchildren
बालाः:
Karta
TypeNoun
Rootबाल
FormMasculine, Nominative, Plural
यथाas, just as
यथा:
TypeIndeclinable
Rootयथा
जडाःdull-witted, inert (people)
जडाः:
Karta
TypeAdjective
Rootजड
FormMasculine, Nominative, Plural

वैशम्पायन उवाच

V
Vaiśampāyana
K
Kauravas
Ś
Śrī Kṛṣṇa
A
agni (fire)
P
paṭa (cloth)

Educational Q&A

Arrogance and moral blindness lead to self-destructive choices: attempting to restrain the righteous and the divine is both impossible and ethically corrupt, like trying to bind fire with cloth.

In the Udyoga Parva context of failed diplomacy, the Kauravas contemplate detaining Kṛṣṇa; the narrator condemns this as foolish and futile through the simile of wrapping a blazing fire in cloth.