Shloka 176
Rājasūyābhiṣeka-darśana: Duryodhana’s Observation of the Consecration
त्रिंशद्दासीक एकैको यान् बिभर्ति युधिष्ठिर: । राजा युधिष्ठिर अपने घरमें बसनेवाले अट्ठासी हजार स्नातकोंका भरण-पोषण करते हैं। उनमेंसे प्रत्येककी सेवाके लिये तीस-तीस दासियाँ प्रस्तुत रहती हैं
triṁśad dāsīka ekaiko yān bibharti yudhiṣṭhiraḥ |
Duryodhana said: “Yudhiṣṭhira maintains such men that for each one he supports, thirty maidservants are kept ready to attend upon him.” In context, this is not praise but a barbed comparison, meant to display the extraordinary prosperity and largesse of Yudhiṣṭhira’s household—fueling Duryodhana’s envy and sharpening the moral tension between dharmic generosity and corrosive jealousy.
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse illustrates how visible prosperity and generous patronage can become an occasion for envy in others; ethically, it warns that jealousy distorts perception and can turn another’s dharmic success into a trigger for hostility.
In the Sabha Parva’s courtly setting, Duryodhana is describing (and implicitly resenting) the scale of Yudhiṣṭhira’s establishment and the lavish service available to those under his care, building the emotional groundwork for later antagonism.