Shloka 42
Ulūka’s Provocation and Keśava’s Counter-Message (उलूकदूत्ये केशवप्रत्युत्तरम्)
तथा त्वमपि दुष्टात्मन् बैडालं व्रतमास्थित: । चरसि ज्ञातिषु सदा बिडालो मूषिकेष्विव,“दुष्टात्मन! तुमने भी इसी प्रकार बिडालव्रत धारण कर रखा है। जैसे चूहोंमें बिडालने धर्मांचरणका ढोंग रच रखा था, उसी प्रकार तुम भी जाति-भाइयोंमें धर्माचारी बने फिरते हो
tathā tvam api duṣṭātman baiḍālaṁ vratam āsthitaḥ | carasi jñātiṣu sadā biḍālo mūṣikeṣv iva ||
“So you too, wicked-souled one, have taken up the ‘cat’s vow’ (baiḍāla-vrata). You move about among your own kinsmen pretending to be righteous—just as a cat, among mice, puts on the guise of piety only to deceive and prey upon them.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse condemns hypocritical displays of dharma used as a cover for harmful intent. True righteousness is measured by conduct and motive, not by outward observance; feigned piety that exploits one’s own community is especially blameworthy.
Sañjaya reports a sharp rebuke in which the addressed person is accused of adopting ‘baiḍāla-vrata’—a metaphor for a cat that pretends to be harmless or pious while stalking prey. The comparison frames the person’s behavior among relatives as deceitful and predatory rather than genuinely dharmic.