Shloka 24
Draupadī’s Rebuke of Jayadratha and Dhaumya’s Admonition (Āraṇyaka-parva, Adhyāya 252)
अथर्ववेदप्रोक्तैश्न याश्नोपनिषदि क्रिया: । मन्त्रजप्यसमायुक्तास्तास्तदा समवर्तयन्
vaiśampāyana uvāca | atharvavedaproktaīr mantrair bṛhaspatiśukrācāryavarṇitaiś ca agnivistārasādhyayajñakarmāṇi ārabdhāni | yāś copaniṣadi (āraṇyake) mantrajapyasamāyuktā havanādikriyāḥ proktās tā api tadā samavartayan | duryodhanasya niścayaṃ jñātvā pātālavāsino bhayaṅkarā daityadānavāḥ—ye pūrvakāle devaiḥ parājitāḥ—manasā vicārayām āsuḥ: “asya prāṇānte asmākaṃ pakṣa eva naśyet” iti; tasmāt taṃ svapārśvaṃ ānetuṃ mantravidyānipuṇāḥ te mantraiḥ karmāṇi cakruḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana sprach: Als sie von Duryodhanas Entschluss erfuhren, dachten die schrecklichen Daityas und Dānavas, die in der Unterwelt wohnten—uralte Feinde, einst von den Göttern besiegt—bei sich: „Wenn Duryodhana sein Ende findet, geht auch unsere Partei zugrunde.“ Darum begannen jene in der Mantra-Lehre kundigen Daityas, um ihn zu sich zu rufen, Opferhandlungen, die das Ausbreiten des heiligen Feuers erforderten, und bedienten sich dabei der atharvavedischen Mantras, wie sie von Bṛhaspati und Śukrācārya beschrieben wurden; zudem vollzogen sie die in der upaniṣadischen (Āraṇyaka-)Überlieferung gelehrten Gaben ins Feuer und verwandten Riten, begleitet von Mantra-Rezitation.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how ritual and mantra can be used instrumentally for factional aims; it implicitly contrasts sacred technique with ethical intention—power divorced from dharma becomes a tool of adharma and deepens conflict.
Netherworld Daityas and Dānavas, fearing that Duryodhana’s death would ruin their cause, begin Atharvavedic and Upaniṣadic-style fire rites with mantra-recitation to draw him to their side.