Shloka 20

Devanagari script

दुर्योधनस्थ चाकूतं तृषितस्येव विप्रुष: । जैसे पंगु मनुष्यके लिये रास्ता चलना कठिन है, दरिद्रका मनोरथ पूर्ण होना असम्भव है तथा जलकी कुछ ही बूँदें जैसे प्यासेकी प्यास बुझानेमें असमर्थ हैं, उसी प्रकार दुर्योधनका अभिप्राय असम्भव अथवा सफलतासे कोसों दूर है ।। अन्यथा चिन्तितं कार्यमन्यथा तत्‌ तु जायते

Transliteration

dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca | duryodhanasya cākūtaṃ tṛṣitasyeva vipruṣaḥ | yathā paṅgu-manūṣyasya pathi gamanaṃ duṣkaraṃ yathā daridrasya manorathaḥ pūrṇo bhavitum aśakyaḥ yathā ca jalasya alpa-vipruṣo na tṛṣṇāṃ śamayituṃ śaknuvanti tathā duryodhanābhiprāyaḥ asambhavo vā saphalatayā kośa-dūraḥ || anyathā cintitaṃ kāryam anyathā tat tu jāyate ||

Translation

Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “Duryodhana’s intention is like a few drops of water to a thirsty man—incapable of quenching thirst. Just as a lame person finds the road hard to traverse, and a poor man’s wish is impossible to fulfill, so too Duryodhana’s design is either unattainable or far from success. For what is planned turns out otherwise; the deed is born in a different way than one imagines.”

Word by Word

• {'dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca': 'Dhṛtarāṣṭra said', 'cākūta / ākūta': 'intention, resolve, inner design', 'tṛṣita': 'thirsty person', 'vipruṣ': 'a drop (of water)', 'paṅgu': 'lame, crippled', 'pathi gamanam': 'walking/travelling on the road', 'duṣkara': 'difficult, hard to accomplish', 'daridra': 'poor, destitute', 'manoratha': 'desire, wish, cherished aim', 'pūrṇa': 'fulfilled, completed', 'aśakya / asambhava': 'impossible, not feasible', 'tṛṣṇā': 'thirst

• craving', 'śamayitum': 'to pacify, to quench', 'abhiprāya': 'purpose, plan, intention', 'saphalatā': 'success', 'anyathā': 'otherwise, differently', 'cintitam': 'thought, intended, planned', 'kārya': 'action, undertaking, task', 'jāyate': 'arises, comes to be'}

Speaker

धृतराष्ट उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Dhṛtarāṣṭra
• Duryodhana

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Human plans, especially those driven by pride and unrighteous intent, often fail; outcomes arise ‘otherwise’ due to forces beyond one’s control—dharma, consequence, and fate—so one should act with humility and ethical clarity rather than overconfidence.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Karṇa Parva, Dhṛtarāṣṭra reflects anxiously on the war’s course and judges Duryodhana’s resolve as unlikely to succeed, comparing it to inadequate means (a few drops for a thirsty man) and stating that events do not unfold as one intends.