Shloka 8
Adhyāya 160: Arjuna’s Envoy-Message—Critique of Borrowed Valor and Pre-dawn Mobilization
द्वादशैव तु वर्षाणि वने धिष्ण्याद् विवासित: । संवत्सरं विराटस्य दास्यमास्थाय चोषित:,“बारह वर्षोतक तुम राज्यसे निर्वासित होकर वनमें रहे और एक वर्षतक तुम्हें राजा विराटका दास बनकर रहना पड़ा
dvādaśaiva tu varṣāṇi vane dhiṣṇyād vivāsitaḥ | saṃvatsaraṃ virāṭasya dāsyam āsthāya coṣitaḥ ||
Ulūka dijo: «Durante doce años completos fuiste expulsado de tu asiento legítimo y obligado a vivir en el bosque; y por un año más tuviste que permanecer en el reino del rey Virāṭa, aceptando la condición de servidumbre. Así soportaste destierro y humillación; y ahora la cuestión de la justicia y de la justa compensación se alza ante ambos bandos».
उलूक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the moral weight of endured injustice: prolonged exile and enforced low status intensify the ethical claim for restitution. It frames the coming war not as sudden aggression but as the culmination of unaddressed wrongs and violated rightful order.
Ulūka, speaking in the diplomatic-war context of the Udyoga Parva, recalls the Pandavas’ mandated hardships—twelve years in the forest and one year living in concealment at Virāṭa’s court in a servant-like condition—using this as a pointed reminder in the tense negotiations preceding the Kurukṣetra conflict.