Shloka 11
पाण्डवानां वनप्रस्थानवर्णनम् / The Pāṇḍavas’ Departure for the Forest
Vidura’s Report and Portents
कदलीस्तम्भसदृशं सर्वलक्षणसंयुतम् । गजहस्तप्रतीकाशं वज्रप्रतिमगौरवम्
kadalī-stambha-sadṛśaṁ sarva-lakṣaṇa-saṁyutam | gaja-hasta-pratīkāśaṁ vajra-pratima-gauravam ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “(He showed) his left thigh—thick like the trunk of a plantain tree, bearing all the marks of robust strength, shaped with rises and falls like an elephant’s trunk, and heavy and hard as a thunderbolt.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how arrogance and the intoxication of power lead to adharma: public humiliation and sexualized insult become moral transgressions that demand accountability, setting in motion consequences that culminate in catastrophic conflict.
In the assembly-hall episode, Duryodhana, emboldened and mocking, displays his thigh toward Draupadī as an act of contempt and provocation, while encouraging Karṇa and slighting Bhīma—an insult remembered later as a key cause for Bhīma’s vow of retribution.