Shloka 13
Nakula’s Adaptive Counsel to Kṛṣṇa in the Kuru Assembly (उद्योगपर्व, अध्याय ७८)
तथा पापस्तु तत् सर्व न करिष्यति कौरव: । तस्मिंश्नाक्रियमाणेड्सौ लोके वध्यो भविष्यति,विप्रलुप्तं च वो राज्यं नृशंसेन दुरात्मना । न चोपशाम्यते पाप: श्रियं दृष्टवा युधिष्ठिरे भारत! जिसने तुम सब लोगोंको कुमारावस्थामें भी सदा नाना प्रकारके कष्ट दिये हैं, जिस दुरात्मा एवं निर्दयीने तुम्हारे राज्यका भी अपहरण कर लिया है तथा जो पापी दुर्योधन युधिष्ठिरके पास सम्पत्ति देखकर शान्त नहीं रह सकता है, वह मेरे और समस्त संसारके लिये भी वध्य है
tathā pāpastu tat sarva na kariṣyati kauravaḥ | tasmiṃś cākriyamāṇe ’sau loke vadhyo bhaviṣyati, vipraluptaṃ ca vo rājyaṃ nṛśaṃsena durātmanā | na copaśāmyate pāpaḥ śriyaṃ dṛṣṭvā yudhiṣṭhire bhārata |
Arjuna said: “That sinful Kaurava will not do any of this. If nothing is done in this matter, he will become worthy of being slain in the eyes of the world. That cruel, wicked man has already robbed you of your kingdom; and that sinner, O Yudhiṣṭhira, does not grow calm even upon seeing your prosperity. Therefore, for me—and for the whole world—he is fit to be killed.”
अर्जुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Unchecked greed and cruelty that violate rightful kingship and social order make a ruler morally culpable; when peaceful restraint fails and injustice persists, punitive action can be framed as a dharmic necessity in public ethics (loke).
Arjuna argues before Yudhiṣṭhira that the Kaurava leader will not reform or return what was taken; since the kingdom has been usurped and the offender is not appeased even by the Pāṇḍavas’ prosperity, Arjuna declares him publicly ‘vadhya’—fit to be slain—implying war as the remaining remedy.