Shloka 29
वाक्यशूरस्य चैवास्य परुषस्य दुरात्मन: । दुःशासनस्य रुधिरं पातास्मि मृगराडिव
vākyāśūrasya caivāsya paruṣasya durātmanaḥ | duḥśāsanasya rudhiraṃ pātāsmi mṛgarāḍ iva ||
Bhīmasena pronunció un voto feroz: «Duḥśāsana, valiente sólo de palabra, cruel de corazón y de alma perversa: beberé la sangre de su pecho, como el león bebe la sangre de su presa».
भीमसेन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how grave violations of honor and dharma in public life can generate binding vows of retribution. It also warns that speech-only bravado and cruelty (vākyāśūra, paruṣa, durātman) invite severe consequences, while underscoring the epic’s tension between righteous justice and destructive rage.
In the Kuru assembly context, Bhīma responds to Duḥśāsana’s cruel conduct with a terrifying oath: he will drink Duḥśāsana’s blood like a lion. This functions as a narrative foreshadowing of the later battlefield act in the Kurukṣetra war.