Shloka 28
दुर्जाते: सूतपुत्रस्य शकुने: सौबलस्य च । तथा क्षुद्रस्य पापस्य भ्रातुर्द:शासनस्य च,भरतश्रेष्ठ! एक तुम्हीं ऐसे हो, जो कि परशुरामजीके द्वारा अभिशप्त खोटी जातिवाले सूतपुत्र कर्ण एवं सुबलपुत्र शकुनि तथा अपने नीच एवं पापात्मा भाई दुःशासन--इन तीनोंके मतका अनुमोदन एवं अनुसरण करते हो
vaiśampāyana uvāca | durjāteḥ sūtaputrasya śakuneḥ saubalasya ca | tathā kṣudrasya pāpasya bhrātur duḥśāsanasya ca, bharataśreṣṭha! eka tvam eva tādṛśo 'si, yaḥ paraśurāmeṇa abhiśaptaṃ khotijātiṃ sūtaputraṃ karṇaṃ ca subalaputraṃ śakuniṃ ca nīcaṃ pāpātmānaṃ bhrātaraṃ duḥśāsanaṃ ca—eteṣāṃ trayāṇāṃ matam anumodayaṃś ca anusarāṃś ca bhavasi |
Vaiśampāyana said: “O best of the Bharatas, you alone are such a man—one who approves and follows the counsel of three: Karṇa, the charioteer’s son of ill-fated birth, cursed by Paraśurāma; Śakuni, son of Subala; and your own brother Duḥśāsana, base and sinful. By aligning yourself with their views, you choose a path that deepens wrongdoing and drives the house of Kuru toward ruin.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse warns that endorsing and imitating the counsel of morally compromised figures leads to ethical collapse. It highlights personal accountability: one becomes responsible not only for one’s own acts but also for the choices of advisers one empowers.
In the Udyoga Parva’s pre-war negotiations and counsel, the narrator reports a rebuke aimed at a Kuru leader (implicitly Duryodhana): he is singled out for approving and following the opinions of Karṇa, Śakuni, and Duḥśāsana—figures portrayed as driving the Kurus toward unjust war.