Shloka 55
Bhīma–Duryodhana Gadāyuddha Saṃkalpa
Resolve for the Mace Duel
युधिछिर उवाच मा भूदियं तव प्रज्ञा कथमेवं सुयोधन । यदाभिमन्युं बहवो जघ्नुर्युधि महारथा:
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | mā bhūd iyaṃ tava prajñā katham evaṃ suyodhana | yadābhimanyuṃ bahavo jaghnur yudhi mahārathāḥ ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “Let not such ‘wisdom’ be yours—how can you speak like this, O Suyodhana? When many great chariot-warriors together struck down Abhimanyu in battle, why did this same thought not arise in you then?”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Ethical judgment must be consistent: one cannot condemn an act as unrighteous when it is done against oneself while excusing or forgetting the same act when one benefited from it. Yudhiṣṭhira exposes selective morality and calls for accountability in dharma.
Yudhiṣṭhira addresses Suyodhana (Duryodhana) and challenges his present stance by recalling a prior event: Abhimanyu was killed in battle by many great warriors acting together. He asks why Duryodhana did not entertain the same moral concern at that time.