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

Vāyu-deva sprach: „Als die Pāṇḍavas im Würfelspiel verloren hatten, sprach Duryodhana zu ihnen Worte, furchtbar und bitter. Darum wird Bhīmasena, stets wachsam, in der Stunde der Schlacht die Keule ergreifen und Duryodhana an jene grausamen Schmähungen erinnern. Suyodhana (Duryodhana) gleicht einem großen Baum aus Zorn: Karṇa ist sein Stamm, Śakuni seine Äste. Duḥśāsana sind seine reichen Blüten und Früchte, doch seine Wurzel ist König Dhṛtarāṣṭra—ohne rechte Urteilskraft.“

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.