Mahabharata 3.52.10 — Vana Parva, Adhyaya 52, Shloka 10
Nala’s Embassy to Damayantī and the Gods’ Proposal (नलस्य दूतत्वं देवप्रस्तावश्च)
यस्य प्रभावान्न मया सभामध्ये धनुष्मत: । नीता लोकममुं सर्वे धार्तराष्ट्रा: ससौबला:
yasya prabhāvān na mayā sabhāmadhye dhanuṣmataḥ | nītā lokam amuṁ sarve dhārtarāṣṭrāḥ sasau-balāḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “Overawed by the might of that bow-bearing hero, I did not, there in the midst of the royal assembly, send all the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra—together with Śakuni—to that other world, the realm of Yama, at once.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical tension between capability and restraint: even when one has the power to destroy wrongdoers instantly, the presence and influence of a formidable warrior (and the norms of the royal court) can check impulsive violence, pointing to the importance of self-control and context in kṣatriya conduct.
The narrator states that, in the royal assembly, he did not immediately consign all Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s sons—along with Śakuni—to death (the ‘other world’), because he was overawed or restrained by the power of a certain bow-wielding hero present in that setting.
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