Shloka 83
कर्णनिधनवृत्तान्तनिवेदनम् | Reporting Karṇa’s Fall to Yudhiṣṭhira
अर्जुन: प्राह गोविन्द क्रुद्धः सर्प इव श्वसन् भगवान् श्रीकृष्णके इस प्रकार पूछनेपर अर्जुनने क्रोधमें भरकर फुफकारते हुए सर्पके समान युधिष्ठिरकी ओर देखकर श्रीकृष्णसे कहा--,त्वमित्यत्रभवन्तं हि ब्रूहि पार्थ युधिष्ठिरम् । त्वमित्युक्तो हि निहतो गुरुर्भवीति भारत पार्थ! तुम युधिष्ठिरको सदा आप कहते आये हो, आज उन्हें “तू” कह दो। भारत! यदि किसी गुरुजनको “तू” कह दिया जाय तो यह साधु पुरुषोंकी दृष्टिमें उसका वध ही हो जाता है
sañjaya uvāca | tvam ity atra bhavantaṃ hi brūhi pārtha yudhiṣṭhiram | tvam ity ukto hi nihato gurur bhavatīti bhārata ||
Sañjaya said: “O Pārtha, here address Yudhiṣṭhira with the word ‘tvam’—the familiar ‘you’—instead of the respectful ‘bhavān’. For, O Bhārata, when a venerable elder or teacher is spoken to as ‘tvam’, the righteous deem it as though he were struck down.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Speech itself is an ethical act: the choice between honorific address (bhavān) and familiar address (tvam) can signify reverence or contempt. Toward elders and gurus, lowering the form of address is treated as a grave moral injury—symbolically equivalent to violence—because it violates the dharmic duty of respect.
Sañjaya reports a charged moment involving Arjuna and Yudhiṣṭhira: Arjuna is urged to address Yudhiṣṭhira with the familiar ‘tvam’ rather than the respectful ‘bhavān’. The line underscores how, in the epic’s moral world, a verbal slight to a revered person is considered as serious as physical harm.