Shloka 20
Ritual Acclamation at Hastināpura and Karṇa’s Vow Concerning Arjuna (राजकीय स्तुति-प्रसङ्गः कर्णप्रतिज्ञा च)
अधर्मचारिणस्तस्य कौरव्यस्य दुरात्मन: । ये शीलमनुवर्तन्ते ते पश्यन्ति पराभवम्,“उस पापाचारी दुरात्मा कौरवके स्वभावका जो लोग अनुसरण करते हैं, वे भी अपनी पराजय देखते हैं
adharmacāriṇas tasya kauravyasya durātmanaḥ | ye śīlam anuvartante te paśyanti parābhavam ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “Those who follow the conduct and disposition of that wicked Kaurava—who lives by adharma—come to witness their own downfall.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Imitating an unrighteous leader’s character (śīla) draws one into the same moral failure and therefore the same practical ruin; adharma is portrayed as self-defeating, not merely blameworthy.
Vaiśaṃpāyana, as narrator, comments on the Kaurava’s wicked nature and warns that those who align themselves with his ways will inevitably meet defeat—framing the Kaurava party’s trajectory as a moral and karmic decline.