Shloka 16
युधिष्ठिरस्य धनंजय-प्रति गर्हा
Yudhiṣṭhira’s Reproach to Dhanaṃjaya
सो&वज्ञाय तु निर्विद्धः सूतपुत्रेण मारिष । प्रजज्वाल ततः क्रोधाद्धविषेव हुताशन:
so ’vajñāya tu nirviddhaḥ sūtaputreṇa māriṣa | prajajvāla tataḥ krodhād dhaviṣeva hutāśanaḥ ||
Sañjaya said: O revered one, when King Yudhiṣṭhira was pierced—struck in a contemptuous manner—by the charioteer’s son, he flared up in anger, like fire blazing when fed with an oblation of ghee.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse warns that contempt (avajñā) intensifies the moral and emotional impact of harm: when injury is coupled with insult, even a dharmic person can be driven into consuming anger, likened to fire fed by ghee.
In the Karṇa Parva battle account, Yudhiṣṭhira is wounded by Karṇa (called sūtaputra) in a manner marked by disdain; the combination of being struck and being slighted makes Yudhiṣṭhira blaze with anger.