Mahabharata 9.58.12 — Shalya Parva, Adhyaya 58, Shloka 12

Duryodhana-patana-anuśocana

The Fall of Duryodhana and the Contest of Restraint

Devanagari script

अबुद्धिरेषा महती धर्मराजस्य पाण्डव

Transliteration

abuddhir eṣā mahatī dharmarājasya pāṇḍava

Translation

Vāyu said: “This is a grave lack of discernment on the part of Dharmarāja—the Pāṇḍava.”

Word by Word

• अबुद्धिः: lack of understanding, folly
• अबुद्धिः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: अबुद्धि
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• एषा: this (she/this one)
• एषा: Karta
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: एतद्
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• महती: great, very large
• महती: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: महत्
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• धर्मराजस्य: of Dharmaraja (Yudhishthira)
• Type: Noun
• Root: धर्मराज
• Form: Masculine, Genitive, Singular

• पाण्डव: O Pandava (descendant of Pandu)
• Type: Noun
• Root: पाण्डव
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• वायुदेव (Vāyudeva)
• धर्मराज (Dharmarāja / Yudhiṣṭhira)
• पाण्डव (Pāṇḍava / descendant of Pāṇḍu)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Even a ruler famed for dharma must exercise buddhi (clear discernment). When judgment is clouded—by grief, anger, or misplaced scruple—it becomes a serious ethical failing, because a king’s inner confusion can misdirect action and responsibility.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyudeva addresses Yudhiṣṭhira (Dharmarāja), rebuking him for a ‘great folly’—a moment where Yudhiṣṭhira’s decision or attitude is judged as lacking proper discernment amid the tense moral and political circumstances surrounding the war’s consequences.