Shloka 176
Chapter 137: Yuyudhāna (Sātyaki) Slays Somadatta; Yudhiṣṭhira Redirected from Droṇa
दुःशासन: सह भ्रात्रा भयाद् भीमादुपारमत् | क्रोधमें भरे हुए भयंकर भीमसेनने सभाभवनमें उस दिन समस्त कौरवोंके सुनते हुए मेरे पुत्रोंके वधके सम्बन्धमें जो प्रतिज्ञा की थी, उसका विचार करके और कर्णको पराजित देखकर अपने भाई दुर्योधनसहित दुःशासन निश्चय ही भयके मारे भीमसेनसे दूर हट गया होगा
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca | duḥśāsanaḥ saha bhrātrā bhayād bhīmād uparamat | krodhena bhareṇa bhayaṅkareṇa bhīmasenena sabhābhavane tasmin dine samastakauravāṇāṃ śṛṇvatāṃ mama putrāṇāṃ vadhasaṃbandhe yā pratijñā kṛtā āsīt, tasyā vicāraṃ kṛtvā, karṇaṃ parājitaṃ dṛṣṭvā ca, sva-bhrātṛ duryodhanena saha duḥśāsano niścayena bhayāt bhīmasenāt dūraṃ hataḥ syāt |
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “Duḥśāsana, along with his brother, must have withdrawn from Bhīma out of fear. For that terrifying Bhīmasena—his anger fully aroused—had once, in the assembly hall and in the hearing of all the Kauravas, vowed to slay my sons. Reflecting on that vow, and seeing Karṇa defeated, Duḥśāsana, together with his brother Duryodhana, surely retreated and kept away from Bhīmasena in sheer dread.”
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
Publicly made vows and wrongful deeds generate moral and psychological consequences: fear arises when one recognizes the inevitability of retribution. The passage highlights how adharma-driven actions (humiliation and violence) return as dread when justice, embodied here by Bhīma’s remembered pledge and Karṇa’s setback, begins to manifest.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra infers that Duḥśāsana, seeing Bhīma enraged and recalling Bhīma’s earlier assembly-hall vow to slay Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s sons, and also witnessing Karṇa’s defeat, has retreated with Duryodhana, keeping distance from Bhīma out of fear.