Shloka 14
Bhīma–Draupadī Saṃvāda on Restraint, Protection, and the Kīcaka Threat
Virāṭa-parva, Adhyāya 20
नूनं हि बालया धातुर्मया वै विप्रियं कृतम् । यस्य प्रसादाद् दुर्नीतं प्राप्तास्मि भरतर्षभ,भरतश्रेष्ठ! जान पड़ता है, बचपनमें मैंने विधाताका निश्चय ही महान् अपराध किया है, जिसके फलस्वरूप मैं आज इस दुर्दशामें पड़ गयी हूँ
nūnaṃ hi bālayā dhātur mayā vai vipriyaṃ kṛtam | yasya prasādād durnītaṃ prāptāsmi bharatarṣabha ||
„Gewiss muss ich in meiner Mädchenzeit eine schwere Verfehlung gegen den Lenker (das Schicksal) begangen haben. Durch seinen Ratschluss bin ich in diese üble Lage geraten, o Stier unter den Bhāratas.“
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse voices a moral psychology common in the epic: when one faces humiliation or distress, one may interpret it as the ripening of past wrongdoing (karma) under the governance of Providence (dhātṛ). It encourages ethical self-scrutiny and humility rather than blaming others.
A female speaker laments her present wretched condition and attributes it to having once displeased the cosmic Ordainer (Fate/Providence). Addressing a Bharata hero as ‘bharatarṣabha,’ she frames her suffering as the consequence of an earlier fault now maturing.