Shloka 17
Adhyāya 48 — Duryodhana’s Account of Tribute and the Provisioned Court (सभा पर्व, अध्याय ४८)
अहं तु तद् विजानामि विजेतुं येन शक््यते । युधिष्ठिरं स्वयं राजंस्तन्निबोध जुषस्व च,राजन! मैं वह उपाय जानता हूँ, जिससे युधिष्ठिर स्वयं पराजित हो सकते हैं। तुम उसे सुनो और उसका सेवन करो
ahaṁ tu tad vijānāmi vijetuṁ yena śakyate | yudhiṣṭhiraṁ svayaṁ rājan tan nibodha juṣasva ca ||
“I know the means by which King Yudhishthira himself can be made to lose. O King, understand it well—listen to it and put it into practice.”
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how ethical vulnerability can be exploited: even a righteous king like Yudhiṣṭhira can be ‘defeated’ if an opponent identifies and targets a personal weakness. It foreshadows the moral danger of using cunning means (upāya) to bring about another’s downfall.
In the royal assembly context, Duryodhana tells the king he knows a workable method to make Yudhiṣṭhira lose and urges him to hear and adopt it—setting the stage for the scheme that will culminate in the dice-game humiliation and dispossession of the Pāṇḍavas.