Shloka 28
भीष्मद्रोणयोर्दुर्योधनं प्रति शमोपदेशः | Bhīṣma and Droṇa’s Counsel of Conciliation to Duryodhana
प्रमूढा पृथिवी सर्वा मृत्युपाशवशीकृता । दुर्योधनस्य बालिश्यान्नैतदस्तीति चाब्रुवन्,वे बोले--“यह सारी पृथ्वी मृत्युपाशमें आबद्ध हो मोहाच्छन्न हो गयी है। जान पड़ता है, दुर्योधनकी मूर्खतासे इसका विनाश हो जायगा”
pramūḍhā pṛthivī sarvā mṛtyupāśavaśīkṛtā | duryodhanasya bāliśyān naitad astīti cābruvan |
Vaiśampāyana sprach: Die ganze Erde scheint verwirrt, als wäre sie vom Strick des Todes gebunden und beherrscht. Man sagte: „Durch Duryodhanas kindische Torheit steuert diese Welt offenbar dem Untergang zu“, und doch beharrte man zugleich: „Das kann nicht sein.“
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
When leadership is driven by bāliśya (immature folly) and moha (delusion), society becomes as if seized by mṛtyupāśa—the ‘noose of death’: ethical blindness spreads, and collective ruin becomes likely. The verse warns that personal vice in a ruler can turn into public catastrophe.
In the tense lead-up to the Kurukṣetra war, Vaiśampāyana reports the public mood: people perceive the world as overwhelmed by fatality and delusion, fearing that Duryodhana’s obstinacy will bring destruction, even as they cling to the hope (or denial) that such calamity ‘cannot be.’