Shloka 13
Indra-vijaya Upākhyāna and Śalya’s Assurance to Yudhiṣṭhira (इन्द्रविजयोपाख्यानम् — शल्ययुधिष्ठिरसंवादः)
दुराचारश्न नहुषो ब्रह्मद्विट पापचेतन: । अगस्त्यशापाभिहतो विनष्ट: शाश्वती: समा:
durācāraś ca nahuṣo brahmadviṭ pāpacetanaḥ | agastyaśāpābhihato vinaṣṭaḥ śāśvatīḥ samāḥ, śatrusūdana |
Śalya said: “Nahuṣa—corrupt in conduct, hostile to the Brahmins, and wicked at heart—was struck down by Agastya’s curse and perished for everlasting years. In the same way, your evil-minded foes—Karna, Duryodhana, and the rest—will soon rush toward destruction, O slayer of enemies.”
शल्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Hostility toward dharma—especially contempt for Brahmins and moral law—brings inevitable downfall; past exempla like Nahuṣa’s ruin under Agastya’s curse are invoked to warn that adharma ripens quickly into destruction.
Śalya addresses a ‘slayer of enemies’ and cites the precedent of King Nahuṣa, who was ruined by Agastya’s curse due to wicked conduct, to predict the imminent destruction of the opposing leaders such as Karna and Duryodhana.