Shloka 25
Adhyaya 60: Self-Assertion, Daiva, and the Rhetoric of Inevitability (उद्योग पर्व)
पाण्डवांश्वैव मत्स्यांश्व पज्चालान् केकयै: सह । सात्यकिं वासुदेवं॑ च श्रोतासि विजितान् मया,“आप किसी दिन सुनेंगे कि मैंने पाण्डवोंको, मत्स्यदेशके योद्धाओंको, केकयोंसहित पांचालोंको तथा सात्यकि और वसुदेवनन्दन श्रीकृष्णको भी जीत लिया है
pāṇḍavāṁś caiva matsyāṁś ca pañcālān kekayaiḥ saha | sātyakiṁ vāsudevaṁ ca śrotāsi vijitān mayā ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “One day you will hear that I have conquered the Pāṇḍavas, the warriors of Matsya, the Pāñcālas together with the Kekayas, and even Sātyaki and Vāsudeva (Kṛṣṇa), the son of Vasudeva.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how overconfidence and the urge to proclaim domination can cloud ethical judgment. In the Mahābhārata’s moral frame, such pride (mada/garva) often signals a drift toward adharma and foreshadows reversal, especially when one claims the ability to subdue even the most formidable and righteous allies.
A speaker (reported by Vaiśampāyana) boasts that he will defeat not only the Pāṇḍavas but also their major allied forces—Matsya, Pāñcāla with Kekaya support—and even key champions like Sātyaki and Kṛṣṇa (Vāsudeva). It functions as a rhetorical escalation of threat against the Pāṇḍava coalition in the lead-up to war.