Shloka 16

Devanagari script

भीमसेन उवाच क्रूर पापजनैर्जुष्टमकृतार्थ प्रभाषसे । गान्धारविद्यया हि त्वं राजमध्ये विकत्थसे

Transliteration

bhīmasena uvāca | krūra pāpajanair juṣṭam akṛtārtha prabhāṣase | gāndhāravidyayā hi tvaṃ rājamadhye vikatthase ||

Translation

Dijo Bhīmasena: «¡Cruel! Pronuncias palabras viles, propias sólo de pecadores, y hablas sin mérito verdadero. Pues es por el engañoso arte de “Gāndhāra” que hoy te jactas en medio de los reyes, no por tu propia fuerza».

Word by Word

• {'bhīmasena uvāca': 'Bhīma said', 'krūra': 'cruel, harsh-natured', 'pāpa-janaiḥ': 'by sinful people

• among the wicked', 'juṣṭam': 'frequented, approved, practiced (i.e., characteristic of)', 'akṛta-artha': 'one who has not achieved the goal

• without real merit', 'prabhāṣase': 'you speak, you utter', 'gāndhāra-vidyayā': 'by the Gāndhāra ‘art/skill’ (here: Śakuni’s deceitful dice-stratagem)', 'hi': 'indeed, for', 'tvam': 'you', 'rāja-madhye': 'in the midst of kings

• in the royal assembly', 'vikatthase': 'you boast, you brag'}

Speaker

भीमसेन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīmasena (Bhīma)
• Duryodhana (implied addressee in the Sanskrit epithet)
• Śakuni (implied via gāndhāravidyā)
• Royal assembly (rājamadhya / sabhā)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse condemns pride built on deceit and borrowed power. Boasting in a public moral arena (the royal assembly) is ethically hollow when one’s ‘success’ comes from trickery rather than personal merit, courage, or righteous conduct.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Kuru royal assembly context, Bhīma rebukes the opponent for speaking low, wicked talk and for bragging among kings. He attributes the opponent’s confidence not to true strength but to the deceptive stratagem associated with Gāndhāra—i.e., Śakuni’s manipulative skill in the dice episode.