Shloka 42
Śakuni–Duryodhana-saṃvāda: Dyūta-yojanā (Śakuni and Duryodhana on Planning the Dice-Game)
कृष्णमाह्दनयतामद्य युद्धे चक्रगदाधरम् । यादवस्यैव देवस्य देहं विशतु पातित:,“हमने जिनकी पूजा की है, अपनी महिमासे कभी च्युत न होनेवाले वे भगवान् गोविन्द तुमलोगोंके सामने मौजूद हैं। तुमलोगोंमेंसे जिसकी बुद्धि मृत्युका आलिंगन करनेके लिये उतावली हो रही हो, वह इन्हीं यदुकुल-तिलक चक्रगदाधर श्रीकृष्णको आज युद्धके लिये ललकारे और इनके हाथों मारा जाकर इन्हीं भगवानके शरीरमें प्रविष्ट हो जाय”
kṛṣṇam āhvānayatām adya yuddhe cakragadādharam | yādavasyaiva devasya dehaṃ viśatu pātitaḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “Let him who is eager to embrace death today challenge in battle Kṛṣṇa, the bearer of discus and mace. Struck down, let him enter the very body of that divine Lord of the Yādavas.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores Kṛṣṇa’s invincibility and divine status: challenging him is tantamount to seeking death, and death at his hands is depicted as a form of ultimate merging with the divine—highlighting devotion and the theological framing of warfare outcomes.
The speaker (reported by Vaiśampāyana) issues a provocative call: if anyone truly wants to die, let him challenge Kṛṣṇa—armed with discus and mace—and, once slain, be said to enter Kṛṣṇa’s divine body.