Shloka 5
Droṇācārya’s Assessment of the Pāṇḍavas: Nīti, Kāla, and Intelligence (विराटपर्व, अध्याय २६)
क्षरन्त इव नागेन्द्रा: सर्वे ह्याशीविषोपमा: । दुःखा भवेयु: संरब्धा: कौरवान् प्रति ते ध्रुवम्,“यदि शेष समय भी पाण्डव इसी प्रकार यहाँ व्यतीत कर लें, तो वे प्रतिज्ञापालनके भारसे मुक्त हो जायँगे। फिर तो वे सत्यव्रती पाण्डव मदकी धारा बहानेवाले गजराजों और विषधर सर्पोके समान क्रोधमें भरकर निश्चय ही कौरवोंके लिये दुःखदायी हो जायूँगे
kṣaranta iva nāgendrāḥ sarve hy āśīviṣopamāḥ | duḥkhā bhaveyuḥ saṃrabdhāḥ kauravān prati te dhruvam ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “All of them, like lordly elephants streaming with rut and like venomous serpents, would surely become a source of suffering to the Kauravas when inflamed with wrath.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Unchecked injustice and prolonged provocation do not dissolve conflict; they intensify it. The verse warns that when disciplined, vow-bound warriors are finally freed from constraints, their righteous anger can become irresistibly destructive—hence the ethical urgency for timely reconciliation and fair conduct.
Vaiśampāyana describes the likely outcome if the Pāṇḍavas complete their remaining time in concealment and are released from the burden of their vow: once provoked, they will surge against the Kauravas with the force of rutting elephants and the deadly danger of venomous snakes, becoming certain agents of the Kauravas’ suffering.