Shloka 23
स एव हि मया वध्यो भविष्यति न संशय: । “राजाओ! केशी दैत्यका वध करनेवाले अनन्त-पराक्रमी भगवान् श्रीकृष्णकी मेरे द्वारा जो पूजा की गयी है, उसे आपलोगोंमेंसे जो सहन न कर सकें, उन सब बलवानोंके मस्तकपर मैंने यह पैर रख दिया। मैंने खूब सोच-समझकर यह बात कही है। जो इसका उत्तर देना चाहे, वह सामने आ जाय। मेरे द्वारा वह वधके योग्य होगा; इसमें संशय नहीं है
sa eva hi mayā vadhyo bhaviṣyati na saṁśayaḥ |
Vaiśampāyana said: “Indeed, that very man will be slain by me—of this there is no doubt.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse conveys the force of a solemn, public certainty—an oath-like declaration that wrongdoing (as understood in the surrounding episode) will meet decisive retribution, reflecting the Mahābhārata’s recurring tension between honor, restraint, and violent enforcement of perceived justice.
Vaiśampāyana, as narrator, reports a speaker’s emphatic resolve: the targeted person is declared ‘fit to be slain’ and the speaker asserts there is no doubt about carrying it out, heightening the confrontation and signaling imminent escalation.