Shloka 18
आजमीढ रिपोर्लक्ष्मीमा ते रोचिष्ट भारत । एष भार: सत्त्ववतां नय: शिरसि विछित:,भरतकुलभूषण! अजमीढनन्दन! आपको शत्रुकी लक्ष्मी अच्छी नहीं लगनी चाहिये। हर समय न्यायको सिरपर चढ़ाये रखना भी बुद्धिमानोंके लिये भार ही है
Ājamīḍha ripor lakṣmīmā te rocīṣṭa Bhārata | eṣa bhāraḥ sattvavatāṃ nayaḥ śirasi vicchitaḥ ||
Duryodhana said: “O descendant of Ājamīḍha, O Bhārata, you should not take delight in an enemy’s prosperity. And this—keeping ‘naya’, justice and the way of governance, perpetually hoisted upon one’s head—becomes a burden even for men of strength and sense.”
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse voices a hard-edged, anti-dharmic political attitude: one should not rejoice at an enemy’s success, and even the constant display of ‘justice/policy’ can feel like an oppressive burden. It highlights Duryodhana’s preference for expediency and rivalry over principled restraint.
In the Sabha Parva’s courtly-political setting, Duryodhana addresses a Kuru prince (invoked by lineage titles like Ājamīḍha and Bhārata), expressing resentment toward an opponent’s prosperity and dismissing the continual insistence on righteous conduct as something heavy to carry.