Shloka 14
कुमारमाशु जानीत यदि जीवति वा न वा | यस्य यन्ता गत: षण्ढो मन्ये5हं स न जीवति,इस प्रकार सेनाओंके स्वामी मत्स्यनरेश विराटने अपनी उस चतुरंगिणी सेनाको शीघ्र आदेश दिया, “जाओ, शीघ्र पता लगाओ। कुमार जीवित हैं या नहीं। एक हिजड़ा जिसका सारथि बनकर गया है, वह मेरी समझसे तो अब जीवित नहीं होगा”
kumāram āśu jānīta yadi jīvati vā na vā | yasya yantā gataḥ ṣaṇḍho manye'haṃ sa na jīvati ||
Vaiśampāyana said: King Virāṭa, lord of the Matsyas and commander of his fourfold army, issued a swift command: “Go at once and find out whether the young prince is alive or not. As for the one who went with a eunuch as his charioteer—by my reckoning, he cannot still be living.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the need for verified knowledge in moments of danger (send scouts, confirm life or death) and also exposes how prejudice can distort judgment—Virāṭa’s assumption that someone accompanied by a socially stigmatized charioteer must be dead is an ethical caution against contempt and hasty conclusions.
Virāṭa, alarmed about the fate of the young prince who has gone into peril, commands his forces to quickly ascertain whether the prince is alive. He adds a dismissive comment that the person who went with a eunuch as charioteer is unlikely to have survived.