Mahabharata — Virata Parva, Shloka 27
Virāṭa-parva Adhyāya 22 — Draupadī’s Abduction Attempt and Bhīma’s Suppression of the Kīcakas
“अतः महाबाहो! कीचक रातके समय उस सूनी नृत्यशालामें अकेला आवेगा। तुम वहीं उसे मार डालना ।।
tāṃ sūtaputraṃ kaunteya kīcakaṃ madadarpitam | gatvā tvaṃ nartanāgāraṃ nirjīvaṃ kuru pāṇḍava ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “O son of Kuntī, Pāṇḍava—go to the dance-hall and make that charioteer’s son Kīcaka, swollen with the arrogance of intoxication, lifeless.” The instruction frames Kīcaka’s killing as a necessary act to protect Draupadī’s honor and to restrain a powerful wrongdoer whose abuse of authority has crossed the bounds of dharma.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
When a powerful person becomes lawless through arrogance and violates another’s dignity, dharma may require decisive restraint of that wrongdoer. The verse presents force not as personal cruelty but as protective justice aimed at stopping ongoing adharma.
In the Virāṭa court episode, Kīcaka has harassed Draupadī. A plan is set so that he comes alone to the dance-hall at night; the addressed Pāṇḍava (Bhīma, in disguise) is instructed to go there and kill Kīcaka.