Shloka 30
Adhyāya 160: Arjuna’s Envoy-Message—Critique of Borrowed Valor and Pre-dawn Mobilization
सगदाद् भीमसेनादू वा पार्थाद् वापि सगाण्डिवात् | न वै मोक्षस्तदा वो5भूद् विना कृष्णामनिन्दिताम्,“गदाधारी भीमसेन अथवा गाण्डीवधारी अर्जुनसे भी उस समय सती साध्वी द्रौपदीका सहारा लिये बिना तुमलोगोंका दासभावसे उद्धार न हो सका
sa-gadād bhīmasenād vā pārthād vāpi sa-gāṇḍīvāt | na vai mokṣas tadā vo ’bhūd vinā kṛṣṇām aninditām ||
Ulūka said: “Whether it was Bhīmasena bearing the mace, or Pārtha (Arjuna) bearing the Gāṇḍīva, even then you found no deliverance from servitude without Kṛṣṇā (Draupadī), the blameless one.”
उलूक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores that mere martial prowess (Bhīma’s mace, Arjuna’s Gāṇḍīva) is not the sole measure of dharma or protection; the moral crisis of the Pāṇḍavas’ bondage and dishonor is framed around Draupadī’s presence and the ethical failure that led to it. Ulūka weaponizes this to shame them, implying their ‘deliverance’ was not achieved by heroism alone.
In Udyoga Parva, as war negotiations fail, Duryodhana’s messenger Ulūka delivers a taunting message to the Pāṇḍavas. Here he mocks them by recalling their earlier subjugation and humiliation, claiming that even with Bhīma and Arjuna present, they could not escape a condition of servitude without Draupadī, the blameless one—an insult meant to provoke and destabilize them before the coming war.