Shloka 27
Hiḍimba’s Approach and Hiḍimbā’s Warning to Bhīmasena (हिडिम्बागमनम् / हिडिम्बा-भयवचनम्)
सखिभिन््यवसत् सार्ध व्याप्राखुवृकब भ्ुभि: । तेडपश्यन् विपिने तस्मिन् बलिनं मृगयूथपम्
sakhibhir nyavasat sārdhaṃ vyāghra-khādu-vṛka-bhūbhiḥ | te 'paśyan vipine tasmin balinaṃ mṛga-yūthapam ||
Kāṇika said: “Along with his companions he took up residence there, amid tigers, fierce beasts, and wolves. In that very forest they then caught sight of a powerful leader of a herd of deer.”
काणिक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse sets up an allegory of the forest: power operates through predation and vulnerability. In Kāṇika’s counsel-context, it prepares an ethical tension—whether one should adopt ruthless, ‘predator-like’ strategies in politics, and what such a worldview implies about dharma.
Kāṇika describes a scene in which someone, staying in a forest with dangerous animals, notices a strong leader of a deer herd. The image functions as the opening of a political fable, where the ‘herd-leader’ becomes a figure for a ruler or prominent person observed by potential threats.