Shloka 17
यथा तुदसि मर्माणि वाक्शरैरिह नो भृशम् | तथा स्मारयिता ते<हं कृन्तन् मर्माणि संयुगे,जैसे यहाँ तू अपने वचनरूपी बाणोंसे हमारे मर्मस्थानोंमें अत्यन्त पीड़ा पहुँचा रहा है, उसी प्रकार जब युद्धमें मैं तेरा हृदय विदीर्ण करने लगूँगा, उस समय तेरी कही हुई इन बातोंकी याद दिलाऊँगा
yathā tudasī marmāṇi vākśarair iha no bhṛśam | tathā smārayitā te 'haṃ kṛntan marmāṇi saṃyuge ||
Bhima said: “Just as here you pierce our vital feelings with the sharp arrows of your words, causing us intense pain, so too in battle—when I begin to tear open your vital parts—I will remind you of these very words of yours.”
भीमसेन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how verbal cruelty can wound as sharply as weapons, and how such harm can fuel cycles of vengeance; it implicitly warns that humiliation in public assemblies can become the seed of later violence.
In the royal assembly context, Bhima addresses the opponent who has been tormenting the Pandavas with cutting speech, declaring that he will repay those ‘word-arrows’ in the future battlefield by physically striking the opponent’s vital points and reminding him of his present insults.