Shloka 31
Adhyāya 160: Arjuna’s Envoy-Message—Critique of Borrowed Valor and Pre-dawn Mobilization
सा वो दास्ये समापन्नान् मोक्षयामास पार्षती । अमानुष्यं समापन्नान् दासकर्मण्यवस्थितान्,“तुम सब लोग अमनुष्योचित दीन दशाको प्राप्त हो दासभावमें स्थित थे। उस समय उस द्रुपदकुमारी कृष्णाने ही दासताके संकटमें पड़े हुए तुम सब लोगोंको छुड़ाया था
sā vo dāsye samāpannān mokṣayāmāsa pārṣatī | amānuṣyaṃ samāpannān dāsakarmaṇy avasthitān |
Ulūka said: “When you had fallen into slavery—brought to a wretched, unmanly plight and bound to a servant’s work—it was Pārṣatī (Draupadī), the daughter of Drupada, who freed you from that crisis of bondage.”
उलूक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical shame of being reduced to servitude through adharma and the moral force of liberation: dignity lost through injustice can be restored by steadfast righteousness and courageous intervention—here attributed to Draupadī.
Ulūka, speaking as a messenger in the Udyoga Parva, taunts the opposing side by recalling an earlier humiliation: the addressees had fallen into a state of slavery, and Draupadī (Drupada’s daughter) was the one who delivered them from that bondage.