Shloka 2
अत्यर्थ कोपनो राजा जातवैरश्न पाण्डुषु व्यसन परमं प्राप्त: किमाह परमाहवे
vaiśampāyana uvāca |
atyartha-kopano rājā jātavairaś ca pāṇḍuṣu |
vyasanaṁ paramaṁ prāptaḥ kim āha paramāhave ||
Vaiśampāyana said: King Duryodhana, exceedingly wrathful and born into enmity toward the Pāṇḍavas, had fallen into the utmost calamity in that supreme battle. What did he say then? (This is asked in the context that, after his thighs were broken, he fell to the ground and Bhīmasena set his foot upon Duryodhana’s head—an act that sharpens the ethical tension between righteous victory and the excesses of vengeance.)
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a moral turning-point: uncontrolled anger and entrenched hostility culminate in ruin. It invites reflection on how pride and vengeance distort dharma even at the moment of victory, and how ethical restraint is tested most severely in war’s aftermath.
Vaiśampāyana sets up Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s inquiry to Sañjaya about Duryodhana’s reaction after being grievously defeated—his thighs broken and humiliated by Bhīma’s act of placing a foot on his head. The verse functions as a lead-in to Duryodhana’s ensuing speech.