Shloka 31
Dambhodbhava, Nara-Nārāyaṇa, and the Counsel to Abandon Hubris
Udyoga-parva 94
न पश्येम कुरून् सर्वान् पाण्डवांश्वैव संयुगे । क्षीणानुभयत: शूरान् रथिनो रथिभिहंतान्,युद्धके परिणामपर विचार करनेसे हमें समस्त कौरव और पाण्डव नष्टप्राय दिखायी देते हैं। दोनों ही पक्षोंके शूरवीर रथी रथियोंसे ही मारे जाकर नष्ट हो जायँगे
vaiśampāyana uvāca | na paśyema kurūn sarvān pāṇḍavāṁś caiva saṁyuge | kṣīṇān ubhayataḥ śūrān rathino rathibhir hatān ||
Dijo Vaiśampāyana: «Cuando reflexionamos sobre el desenlace de esta guerra, prevemos que ni los Kurus ni los Pāṇḍavas quedarán intactos. En ambos bandos, los heroicos guerreros de carro serán consumidos y destruidos—rathins abatidos por otros rathins—hasta que el campo quede despojado de sus hombres más eminentes».
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the moral and human cost of war: even when fought by renowned heroes, conflict consumes both sides. It frames the coming battle as a mutual ruin, warning that victory purchased through widespread destruction is ethically fraught and spiritually sobering.
In Udyoga Parva, as the war becomes unavoidable, the narrator Vaiśampāyana conveys a grim foresight: in the impending saṁyuga, the leading chariot-warriors of both the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas will be slain by their counterparts, leaving both factions devastated.