Shloka 7
Adhyāya 160: Arjuna’s Envoy-Message—Critique of Borrowed Valor and Pre-dawn Mobilization
पराजितो$सि द्यूतेन कृष्णा चानायिता सभाम् | शकक््यो<मर्षो मनुष्येण कर्तु पुरुषमानिना,“तुम जुएमें हारे और तुम्हारी पत्नी द्रौपदीको सभामें लाया गया। इस दशामें अपनेको पुरुष माननेवाला प्रत्येक मनुष्य क्रोध कर सकता है
parājito ’si dyūtena kṛṣṇā cānāyitā sabhām | śakyo ’marṣo manuṣyeṇa kartuṃ puruṣa-māninā ||
Ulūka said: “You were defeated in the dice-game, and Kṛṣṇā (Draupadī) was dragged into the royal assembly. In such a plight, any man who prides himself on being a ‘man’ can rise in indignation.”
उलूक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how public humiliation—especially the dishonoring of a spouse—naturally provokes indignation in one who values honor; it also implicitly questions whether anger born of wounded pride should govern one’s response, a key ethical tension before war.
Ulūka, speaking as a messenger aligned with the Kauravas, taunts the Pāṇḍavas by recalling their loss in the dice-game and Draupadī’s being brought into the assembly, aiming to inflame their anger and push them toward conflict.