Shloka 31
Dambhodbhava, Nara-Nārāyaṇa, and the Counsel to Abandon Hubris
Udyoga-parva 94
न पश्येम कुरून् सर्वान् पाण्डवांश्वैव संयुगे । क्षीणानुभयत: शूरान् रथिनो रथिभिहंतान्
vaiśampāyana uvāca | na paśyema kurūn sarvān pāṇḍavāṁś caiva saṁyuge | kṣīṇān ubhayataḥ śūrān rathino rathibhir hatān ||
Vaiśampāyana sprach: „Wenn wir über den Ausgang dieses Krieges nachsinnen, sehen wir voraus, dass weder die Kurus noch die Pāṇḍavas unversehrt bleiben werden. Auf beiden Seiten werden die heldenhaften Wagenkämpfer zermürbt und vernichtet—Rathins, erschlagen von Rathins—bis das Schlachtfeld seiner vornehmsten Männer beraubt ist.“
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the moral and human cost of war: even when fought by renowned heroes, conflict consumes both sides. It frames the coming battle as a mutual ruin, warning that victory purchased through widespread destruction is ethically fraught and spiritually sobering.
In Udyoga Parva, as the war becomes unavoidable, the narrator Vaiśampāyana conveys a grim foresight: in the impending saṁyuga, the leading chariot-warriors of both the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas will be slain by their counterparts, leaving both factions devastated.