Shloka 16

Devanagari script

शौण्डिका: कुकुराश्चैव शकाश्नैव विशाम्पते । अज्ज वज्जश्न पुण्ड्राश्न शाणवत्या गयास्तथा

Transliteration

śauṇḍikāḥ kukurāś caiva śakāś caiva viśāmpate | ajjavajjaśna-puṇḍrāśna śāṇavatyā gayās tathā ||

Translation

Duryodhana said: “O lord of the people, there are the Śauṇḍikas, the Kukuras, and the Śakas; likewise the Ajja–Vajjaśna, the Puṇḍrāśna, and also the Śāṇavatyas and the Gayas.”

Word by Word

शौण्डिकाःwine-sellers / liquor-dealers

कुकुराःKukuras (a people/tribe)

चand

एवindeed / also

शकाःŚakas (Scythians; a people/tribe)

चand

विशाम्पतेO lord of the people (O king)

अज्जAjjas (a people/tribe; reading uncertain)

वज्जश्नVajjaśnas (a people/tribe; reading uncertain)

पुण्ड्राश्नPuṇḍrāśnas (a people/tribe; reading uncertain)

शाणवत्याःŚāṇavatyas (women/people of Śāṇavatī; reading uncertain)

गयाःGayas (people of Gayā / Gayas; reading uncertain)

तथाso / likewise / also

Speaker

दुर्योधन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Duryodhana

Śauṇḍikāḥ

Kukurāḥ

Śakāḥ

Ajja–Vajjaśna

Puṇḍrāśna

Śāṇavatyāḥ

Gayāḥ

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse itself is not a moral maxim but a political catalogue: it highlights how rulers often view society through the lens of factions, peoples, and potential allies—an outlook that, in the larger epic, contrasts with dharmic restraint and foreshadows conflict driven by ambition and power-calculation.

What is happening in the narrative?

Duryodhana is speaking and enumerating various peoples/tribes. In the Sabha Parva’s courtly-political setting, such lists function as a survey of the wider world—who exists, who can be counted, and implicitly who may be drawn into the orbit of royal rivalry.