Shloka 37

Dvaītavana: Brahmaghoṣa, Rṣi-saṅgha, and Baka Dālbhyā’s Upadeśa to Yudhiṣṭhira

Devanagari script

न निर्मन्यु:क्षत्रियो$स्ति लोके निर्वचनं स्मृतम्‌ । तदद्य त्वयि पश्यामि क्षत्रिये विपरीतवत्‌,संसारमें कोई भी क्षत्रिय क्रोधरहित नहीं होता, क्षत्रिय शब्दकी व्युत्पत्ति ही ऐसी है, जिससे उसका सक्रोध होना सूचित होता है।- परंतु आज आप-चजैसे क्षत्रियमें मुझे यह क्रोधका अभाव क्षत्रियत्वके विपरीत-सा दिखायी देता है

Transliteration

na nir manyuḥ kṣatriyo 'sti loke nirvacanaṁ smṛtam | tad adya tvayi paśyāmi kṣatriye viparītavat ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: “It is remembered as a settled definition in the world that no kṣatriya is without anger; even the very derivation of the word ‘kṣatriya’ implies a readiness to wrath in the protection of order. Yet today, in you—though you are a kṣatriya—I see the absence of anger, as if it were contrary to kṣatriya-nature.”

Word by Word

• {'na': 'not', 'nir': 'without (prefix)', 'manyuḥ': 'anger, wrath, spirited indignation', 'kṣatriyaḥ': 'member of the warrior-ruler class

• protector', 'asti': 'is/exists', 'loke': 'in the world', 'nirvacanam': 'definition

• etymological explanation/derivation', 'smṛtam': 'remembered

• recorded in tradition', 'tat': 'that', 'adya': 'today/now', 'tvayi': 'in you', 'paśyāmi': 'I see/observe', 'kṣatriye': 'in/with regard to a kṣatriya (voc./loc. sense by context)', 'viparītavat': 'as if opposite

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• kṣatriya (warrior class)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse contrasts the conventional expectation of kṣatriya ‘manyu’ (protective wrath/spirited indignation) with an observed restraint, raising an ethical question: when is anger a duty-bound force for protection, and when is its absence a higher form of self-mastery within dharma?

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana comments on a kṣatriya’s unexpected lack of anger, noting that tradition commonly defines kṣatriyas as not being ‘nir-manyu’ (without wrath). The remark highlights a perceived reversal of the usual warrior temperament at this moment in the story.