Shloka 4
Virāṭa-parva Adhyāya 25: Kaurava Deliberation and the Search Directive (अन्वेषण-आदेशः)
इत्यजल्पन् महाराज परानीकविनाशनम् | देशे देशे मनुष्याश्व कीचकं दुष्प्रधर्षणम्,महाराज जनमेजय! शत्रुओंकी सेनाका संहार करनेवाले उस दुर्धर्ष वीर कीचकके विषयमें देश-देशके लोग ऐसी ही बातें किया करते थे
iti ajalpan mahārāja parānīka-vināśanam | deśe deśe manuṣyāśva kīcakaṁ duṣpradharṣaṇam || mahārāja janamejaya |
Vaiśampāyana sprach: O König, so redeten die Menschen in den verschiedensten Gegenden über Kīcaka—den schwer zu bezwingenden Helden, den Vernichter der feindlichen Heere. Überall, unter Fußvolk wie Reitern, wurde sein Ruf in solchen Worten wiederholt, o König Janamejaya.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how public speech and reputation amplify martial power: a warrior’s perceived invincibility spreads across regions, shaping social and political attitudes. It implicitly warns that fame based on force can become a dominant narrative, regardless of deeper ethical merit.
Vaiśampāyana reports to King Janamejaya that people everywhere were talking about Kīcaka as a formidable, hard-to-defeat warrior and a destroyer of enemy armies—setting the scene for Kīcaka’s prominence in the Virāṭa court context.