Shloka 236
Bhīma–Draupadī Saṃvāda on Restraint, Protection, and the Kīcaka Threat
Virāṭa-parva, Adhyāya 20
पश्य कौन्तेय पाणी मे नैवाभूतां हि यौ पुरा । कुन्तीकुमार! इसके सिवा मेरे एक और असहा दुःखको तो देखो। पहले मैं माता कुन्तीको छोड़कर (और किसीके लिये तो क्या) स्वयं अपने लिये भी कभी उबटन नहीं पीसती थी; किंतु वही मैं आज दूसरोंके लिये चन्दन घिसती हूँ। पार्थ! देखो, ये मेरे दोनों हाथ, जिनमें घट्ठे पड़ गये हैं, पहले ये ऐसे नहीं थे
paśya kaunteya pāṇī me naivābhūtāṃ hi yau purā |
Vaiśampāyana said: “Look, O son of Kuntī, at my hands. They were not like this before. Once I would not grind even cosmetic paste for myself—what then for anyone else; yet today I am forced to grind sandalwood for others. See how these hands have become rough and calloused.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights endurance under adversity and the ethical weight of forced servitude: even those of high station may be reduced to menial labor, yet dignity is preserved through patience and steadfastness until dharma can be restored.
In the Virāṭa court during the Pāṇḍavas’ incognito exile, the speaker (in context, the distressed queen living as a servant) points to her calloused hands as proof of her present humiliation—now grinding sandalwood for others—contrasting it with her former life of royal comfort.