Shloka 463
मम दत्त्वा नियुद्ध॑ त्वं भुड्क्ष्व मांसं यथेप्सितम् महाराज! उस नेवलेसे गीदड़ने वनमें इस प्रकार कहा--'ओ नेवले! मैंने अपने बाहुबलका आश्रय ले उन सबको परास्त कर दिया है। वे हार मानकर अन्यत्र चले गये। यदि तुझमें हिम्मत हो तो पहले मुझसे लड़ ले; फिर इच्छानुसार मांस खाना'
mama dattvā niyuddhaṁ tvaṁ bhuṅkṣva māṁsaṁ yathepsitam
Jambuka said: “First grant me a fair fight—engage me in combat. Then, if you prevail, eat the flesh as you desire.”
जम्बुक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights how claims of entitlement (even to food) are sometimes justified through force and “trial by combat,” raising an ethical tension between might-based right and dharma-based right.
The jackal (Jambuka) addresses the mongoose (Nakula), boasting of having defeated others and challenging the mongoose to fight first; only after such a duel, he says, may the mongoose eat the meat as he wishes.