Shloka 2

मैत्रेयागमनम् — The Arrival of Maitreya and the Admonition to Duryodhana

Devanagari script

विदुर उवाच शृणु भीमस्य कर्मेदमतिमानुषकर्मण: । श्रुतपूर्व मया तेषां कथान्तेषु पुन: पुन:,विदुरजीने कहा--राजन! मानवशक्तिसे अतीत कर्म करनेवाले भीमसेनके इस भयानक कर्मको आप सुनिये, जिसे मैंने उन पाण्डवोंके कथाप्रसंगमें (ब्राह्मणोंसे) बार-बार सुना है

Transliteration

vidura uvāca śṛṇu bhīmasya karmedam atimānuṣa-karmaṇaḥ | śruta-pūrvaṃ mayā teṣāṃ kathānteṣu punaḥ punaḥ ||

Translation

Vidura said: “O king, listen to this deed of Bhīma—an act beyond ordinary human measure. I have heard it before, again and again, in the closing portions of the tales told about those Pāṇḍavas.”

Word by Word

विदुरःVidura

उवाचsaid

शृणुlisten

भीमस्यof Bhima

कर्मdeed

इदम्this

अतिमानुषकर्मणःof (one) whose deeds are beyond human (i.e., superhuman-doer)

श्रुतपूर्वम्heard before / previously heard

मयाby me

तेषाम्of them

कथान्तेषुin the story-contexts / at the ends of narratives

पुनःagain

Speaker

विदुर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vidura

Bhīma (Bhīmasena)

Pāṇḍavas

King (rājan; addressed, contextually Dhṛtarāṣṭra)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames moral instruction through exemplary action: Vidura urges the king to attend to Bhīma’s extraordinary deed as a meaningful precedent repeatedly preserved in tradition, implying that great power and decisive action must be understood within dharma and remembered as ethical narrative.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vidura begins a recounting: he addresses the king and introduces a remarkable exploit of Bhīma, noting that he has heard this account many times in stories about the Pāṇḍavas, thereby setting up an authoritative retelling.