Shloka 31
Udyoga-parva Adhyāya 34 — Vidura’s Counsel on Deliberation, Speech-Discipline, and Dharmic Kingship
युधन्वोवाच यां रात्रिमधिविन्ना स्त्री यां चैवाक्षपराजित: । यां च भाराभिततप्ताड़्े दुर्विवक्ता सम तां वसेत्,सुधन्वा बोला--सौतवाली स्त्री, जूएमें हारे हुए जुआरी और भार ढोनेसे व्यथित शरीरवाले मनुष्यकी रातमें जो स्थिति होती है, वही स्थिति उलटा न्याय देनेवाले वक्ताकी भी होती है
sudhanvovāca yāṁ rātrim adhivinnā strī yāṁ caivākṣaparājitaḥ | yāṁ ca bhārābhitatapto durvivaktā sama tāṁ vaset ||
Sudhanvan said: “The night that a woman endures when she has been wronged and cast aside; the night that a gambler endures after being defeated at dice; and the night that a man endures when his body is scorched by the strain of carrying heavy loads—such is the night endured by one who speaks unjustly and delivers perverted judgment.”
प्रह्माद उवाच
Educational Q&A
Unjust speech—especially speech that twists judgment—creates an inner suffering comparable to humiliation, ruin, and bodily torment. The verse warns that ethical failure in advocacy or decision-making is not merely social harm but a personal moral affliction.
Sudhanvan uses three vivid analogies (a wronged woman’s anguish, a gambler’s despair after losing, and a porter’s bodily pain) to describe the mental state of a person who argues falsely or gives inverted justice, emphasizing the psychological and moral cost of adharma.