Shloka 108
मल्लयुद्ध॑ मया सार्ध कुरु दुष्कुलसम्भव । महाबलो महाभोगी कीचको निहतो यथा
mallayuddhaṁ mayā sārdha kuru duṣkulasambhava | mahābalo mahābhogī kīcako nihato yathā ||
Sañjaya said: “Come, O Kuru born of a degenerate line—fight a wrestler’s duel with me. I am mighty and accustomed to the enjoyment of power; I shall strike you down as Kīcaka was slain.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how pride and contemptuous speech (insults, self-boasting) are used to provoke combat; ethically, it contrasts the warrior ideal of courage with the moral risk of arrogance and demeaning others.
A speaker issues a direct challenge to a Kuru warrior for close-quarters ‘wrestler-style’ combat, boasting of strength and invoking the earlier example of Kīcaka’s death as a threat of similar defeat.