Shloka 5
मārkaṇḍeya-ukta yuddha-vyūha-pratyavyūhaḥ
Battle Formations and Countermeasures in the Rāmopākhyāna
नागं प्रभिन्नं गिरिकूटकल्प- मुपत्यकां हैमवरतीं चरन्तम् । दण्डीव यूथादपसे धसि त्वं यो जेतुमाशंससि धर्मराजम्,“मुझे तो ऐसा जान पड़ता है कि इस क्षत्रिय-मण्डलीमें कोई भी तेरा ऐसा हितैषी स्वजन नहीं है, जो आज तेरा हाथ पकड़कर तुझे पातालके गहरे गर्तमें गिरनेसे बचा ले। अरे! जैसे कोइ मूर्ख मनुष्य हिमालयकी उपत्यकामें विचरनेवाले पर्वतशिखरके समान ऊँचे एवं मदकी धारा बहानेवाले गजराजको हाथमें डंडा लेकर उसके यूथसे अलग हाँक लाना चाहे, उसी प्रकार तू धर्मराज युधिष्ठिरको जीतनेका हौसला रखता है
vaiśampāyana uvāca |
nāgaṃ prabhinnaṃ girikūṭakalpam upatyakāṃ haimavatīṃ carantam |
daṇḍīva yūthād apase dhasi tvaṃ yo jetum āśaṃsasi dharmarājam ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “You are like a man holding only a staff, trying to drive away from its herd a rut-maddened lordly elephant—huge as a mountain peak—roaming in the Himalayan valley; so too you presume you can defeat Dharmarāja (Yudhiṣṭhira).”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Overconfidence against a truly dharmic and formidable person is self-destructive; the verse warns that moral stature and inner strength make Dharmarāja as unassailable as a musth elephant, and that reckless aggression invites ruin.
Vaiśampāyana uses a vivid simile: a mere staff-bearer trying to separate a rutting bull-elephant from its herd in the Himalayan valley. This image is applied to someone who imagines he can defeat Dharmarāja Yudhiṣṭhira, portraying the attempt as foolish and perilous.