Shloka 11
Adhyāya 48 — Duryodhana’s Account of Tribute and the Provisioned Court (सभा पर्व, अध्याय ४८)
उस मयके ही कहनेसे किंकरनामधारी भयंकर राक्षसगण उस सभाको एक स्थानसे दूसरे स्थानपर ले जाते हैं। अतः इसके लिये भी शोक-संताप क्यों किया जाय? भारत! तुमने जो अपनेको असहाय बताया है, वह मिथ्या है; क्योंकि तुम्हारे ये सब भाई तुम्हारी आज्ञाके अधीन हैं ।। द्रोणस्तव महेष्वास: सह पुत्रेण वीर्यवान् सूतपुत्रश्न राधेयो गौतमश्न महारथ:,महान् धनुर्धर और पराक्रमी द्रोणाचार्य अपने पुत्र अश्वत्थामाके साथ तुम्हारी सहायताके लिये उद्यत हैं। राधानन्दन सूतपुत्र कर्ण, महारथी कृपाचार्य, भाइयोंसहित मैं तथा राजा भूरिश्रवा--इन सबके साथ तुम भी सारी पृथ्वीपर विजय प्राप्त करो
mayena hi kathitena kiṅkaranāmadhāriṇaḥ bhayaṅkarā rākṣasagaṇāḥ tāṃ sabhāṃ ekasmāt sthānād anyasmin sthāne nayanti; ataḥ asyāpi kṛte śoka-santāpaḥ kathaṃ kriyatām? bhārata! tvayā yaḥ ātmā asahāya iti proktaḥ sa mithyā; yasmāt tava ime sarve bhrātaraḥ tava ājñāyāḥ adhīnāḥ. droṇas tava maheṣvāsaḥ saha putreṇa vīryavān; sūtaputraḥ rādhēyaḥ, gautamaḥ mahārathaḥ; bhrātṛbhiḥ saha ahaṃ ca rājā bhūriśravāś ca—etaiḥ sarvaiḥ saha tvam api sarvāṃ pṛthivīṃ vijayāya yāhi.
Duryodhana said: “At Maya’s bidding, terrifying rākṣasas who bear the name ‘Kiṅkara’ can carry that assembly-hall from one place to another. So why grieve even for this? O Bhārata, your claim that you are helpless is false, for all these brothers of yours stand under your command. Drona, the mighty archer, together with his valiant son, is ready to support you; so too are Radheya Karna, the charioteer’s son, and Kripa of the Gautama line, a great warrior—along with me and my brothers, and King Bhūrishravas. With all of us, you too should set out to win victory over the whole earth.”
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage illustrates how political counsel can redirect grief into ambition: Duryodhana minimizes loss by stressing magical recoverability and then frames power as a matter of command and alliances. Ethically, it highlights the Mahābhārata’s recurring tension—consolation is used not for restraint, but to justify expansive conquest.
Duryodhana addresses Dhṛtarāṣṭra, arguing that the wondrous sabhā can be moved by Maya’s rākṣasa attendants, so lamentation is needless. He then reassures him of support by naming key warriors—Droṇa with Aśvatthāmā, Karṇa, Kṛpa, himself and his brothers, and Bhūrishravas—and urges a campaign to conquer the earth.