Shloka 20
यावनाथौ चरिष्येते त्वया नाथेन दुर्हदा । हतमित्रौ हतामात्यौ लूनपक्षाविवाण्डजौ
yāvanāthau cariṣyete tvayā nāthena durhṛdā | hatamitrau hatāmātyau lūnapakṣāv ivāṇḍajau ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “So long as those two, bereft of protectors, must go on living under you—an unfriendly guardian—they will be like two birds with their wings clipped: their allies slain, their ministers destroyed, left powerless and unable to act.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical failure of ‘protection’ that is hostile in intent: when those who should be safeguarded are placed under an ill-wisher, they become effectively incapacitated—stripped of support, counsel, and agency—like birds whose wings are cut.
Vaiśampāyana describes a situation in which two persons, lacking true protectors and forced to live under a hostile authority, are portrayed as politically and practically powerless—having lost allies and ministers—using the vivid simile of wing-clipped birds.