Shloka 6

Devanagari script

तुल्यपाणिभुजग्रीवस्तुल्यबुद्धीन्द्रियात्मक: । तुल्यदुः:खसुखात्मा च तुल्यपृष्ठमुखोदर:,जिसे हम राजा कहते हैं, वह सभी गुणोंमें दूसरोंके समान ही है। उसके हाथ, बाँह और गर्दन भी औरोंकी ही भाँति हैं। बुद्धि और इन्द्रियाँ भी दूसरे लोगोंके ही तुल्य हैं। उसके मनमें भी दूसरे मनुष्योंके समान ही सुख-दुःखका अनुभव होता है। मुँह, पेट, पीठ, वीर्य, हड्डी, मज्जा, मांस, रक्त, उच्छवास, निःश्वास, प्राण, शरीर, जन्म और मरण आदि सभी बातें राजामें भी दूसरोंके समान ही हैं। फिर वह विशिष्ट बुद्धि रखनेवाले अनेक शूरवीरोंपर अकेला ही कैसे अपना प्रभुत्व स्थापित कर लेता है?

Transliteration

yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | tulyapāṇibhujagrīvas tulyabuddhīndriyātmakaḥ | tulyaduḥkhasukhātmā ca tulyapṛṣṭhamukhodaraḥ ||

Translation

Yudhiṣṭhira said: “A king’s hands, arms, and neck are like those of other men; his intellect and senses are like theirs as well. He too experiences pleasure and pain as they do, and his back, face, and belly are no different. If, in bodily nature and inner experience, he is equal to others, how does one man—alone—establish mastery over many heroes endowed with exceptional intelligence and valor?”

Word by Word

• तुल्यपाणिभुजग्रीवः: having hands, arms, and neck like (others)
• तुल्यपाणिभुजग्रीवः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: तुल्यपाणिभुजग्रीव
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• तुल्यबुद्धीन्द्रियात्मकः: whose intellect and senses are like (others')
• तुल्यबुद्धीन्द्रियात्मकः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: तुल्यबुद्धीन्द्रियात्मक
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• तुल्यदुःखसुखात्मा: whose experience of sorrow and happiness is like (others')
• तुल्यदुःखसुखात्मा: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: तुल्यदुःखसुखात्मन्
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• च: and
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: च

• तुल्यपृष्ठमुखोदरः: having back, face, and belly like (others)
• तुल्यपृष्ठमुखोदरः: Karta
• Type: Adjective
• Root: तुल्यपृष्ठमुखोदर
• Form: Masculine, Nominative, Singular

Speaker

युधिछ्िर उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Yudhiṣṭhira
• king (rājā)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames a moral-political problem: since a king is physically and psychologically the same as other humans, his right to rule cannot rest on mere bodily superiority. Legitimate sovereignty must be grounded in dharma—ethical conduct, protection of subjects, self-restraint, and the social recognition of authority—rather than in natural difference.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Śānti Parva’s instruction on governance and dharma after the war, Yudhiṣṭhira raises a probing question about the basis of royal power: how can one ordinary human being command and control many capable warriors and people, if he is essentially like them?