Shloka 25

Draupadī-apaharaṇa-saṃdeśaḥ

Report of Draupadī’s Abduction and the Pāṇḍavas’ Pursuit

Devanagari script

मा विषादं गमस्तस्मान्नैतत्त्वय्युपपद्यते । विनष्टे त्वयि चास्माकं पक्षो हीयेत कौरव,अतः कुरुनन्दन! आप विषाद न करें। यह आपको शोभा नहीं देता है। आपके नष्ट हो जानेपर तो हमारे पक्षका ही नाश हो जायगा

Transliteration

mā viṣādaṃ gamas tasmān naitat tvayy upapadyate | vinaṣṭe tvayi cāsmākaṃ pakṣo hīyeta kaurava ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: “Do not fall into despair for this reason; such dejection does not befit you. If you were to be lost, O Kaurava, our own side would be diminished—indeed, it would suffer ruin.”

Word by Word

माdo not (prohibitive particle)

विषादम्despondency, grief

गमःgo (i.e., fall into)

तस्मात्from that, therefore

नnot

एतत्this

त्वयिin you, for you

उपपद्यतेis fitting, is appropriate

विनष्टेwhen (you are) destroyed/lost

त्वयिin you, when you (are gone)

चand

अस्माकम्of us, our

पक्षःside, party, faction

हीयेतwould diminish, would be lost

कौरवO Kaurava

अतःtherefore, hence

कुरुनन्दनO delight of the Kurus

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Kaurava (a Kuru prince/descendant of Kuru)

Kuru lineage

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Despair is portrayed as unfitting for a capable person; one should uphold steadiness and responsibility, recognizing that personal collapse can endanger the welfare of one’s entire community or cause.

What is happening in the narrative?

The narrator Vaiśampāyana reports an admonition addressed to a Kuru prince: he is urged not to succumb to grief, because his loss would weaken—and potentially ruin—the speaker’s allied faction.