Shloka 12

Adhyāya 31: Rājasūya-samāgama — The Gathering of Kings and the Ordering of Hospitality

Devanagari script

स विजित्य दुराधर्ष भीष्मकं माद्रिनन्दन: । कोसलाधिपतिं चैव तथा वेणातटाधिपम्‌

Transliteration

sa vijitya durādharṣaṃ bhīṣmakaṃ mādrīnandanaḥ | kosalādhipatiṃ caiva tathā veṇātaṭādhipam ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: The son of Mādrī, having overcome the hard-to-subdue hero Bhīṣmaka, also defeated in battle the lord of Kośala and the ruler of the territories along the bank of the Veṇā.

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'vijitya (विजित्य)', 'meaning': 'having conquered

• having defeated'}, {'term': 'durādharṣa (दुराधर्ष)', 'meaning': 'hard to assail

• difficult to overcome'}, {'term': 'bhīṣmaka (भीष्मक)', 'meaning': 'Bhīṣmaka (a king

• proper name)'}, {'term': 'mādrīnandana (माद्रिनन्दन)', 'meaning': 'son of Mādrī

• typically Nakula or Sahadeva (here: the conqueror)'}, {'term': 'kosalādhipati (कोसलाधिपति)', 'meaning': 'lord/king of Kośala'}, {'term': 'caiva (चैव)', 'meaning': 'and indeed

• and also'}, {'term': 'tathā (तथा)', 'meaning': 'likewise

• also'}, {'term': 'veṇātaṭādhipa (वेणातटाधिप)', 'meaning': 'ruler of the riverbank region of the Veṇā (Veṇā-taṭa)'}]

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Mādrīnandana (son of Mādrī)
• Bhīṣmaka
• Kośala
• Kośalādhipati (king of Kośala)
• Veṇā (river)
• Veṇā-taṭa (Veṇā riverbank region)
• Veṇātaṭādhipa (ruler of Veṇā-taṭa)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the kṣatriya-world ethic where sovereignty is asserted through conquest; it implicitly raises the Mahābhārata’s larger moral tension between political ambition and the dharmic costs of violence and domination.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana narrates that the son of Mādrī continues a campaign of victories, defeating the formidable Bhīṣmaka and then overcoming the king of Kośala and the ruler of the Veṇā riverbank region.