Shloka 12
दुर्योधन उवाच इहैवागत्य पाज्चाली प्रश्नमेनं प्रभाषताम् | इहैव सर्वे शृण्वन्तु तस्याश्वैतस्थ यद् वच:
duryodhana uvāca | ihaivāgatya pāñcālī praśnam enaṁ prabhāṣatām | ihaiva sarve śṛṇvantu tasyāś caitat-sthaṁ yad vacaḥ ||
Duryodhana said: “Let Pāñcālī come here and answer this question. Let everyone here listen to whatever words she speaks on this very matter.”
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how questions of dharma and justice can be forced into a public spectacle by those in power; ethical inquiry is invoked, yet the intent may be coercive—turning a moral issue into an instrument of humiliation and control.
In the royal assembly after the dice-game crisis, Duryodhana orders that Draupadī (Pāñcālī) be brought into the hall to answer a pointed question, insisting that everyone present hear her response.