Shloka 9

Duryodhana’s Account of Gandharva Defeat and the Pandavas’ Intervention (दुर्योधनवर्णितो गन्धर्वसंग्रामः)

Devanagari script

कथं नु सत्य: शुचिरार्यवृत्तो ज्येष्ठ: सुतानां मम धर्मराज: । अजातशणत्रु: पृथिवीतले सम शेते पुरा राडकवकूटशायी,“अहो! जो मेरे सभी पुत्रोंमें बड़े तथा सत्यवादी, पवित्र और सदाचारी हैं तथा जो पहले रंकु मृगके (नरम) रोओंसे बने हुए बिछौनोंपर सोया करते थे, वे अजातशत्रु धर्मराज युधिष्ठटिर आजकल भूमिपर कैसे शयन करते होंगे?

Transliteration

kathaṁ nu satyaḥ śucir āryavṛtto jyeṣṭhaḥ sutānāṁ mama dharmarājaḥ | ajātaśatruḥ pṛthivītale samaṁ śete purā raṅkavakūṭaśāyī ||

Translation

Dijo Vaiśampāyana: «¿Cómo es que mi rey del Dharma—veraz, puro y firme en la conducta noble, el mayor entre mis hijos—Ajātaśatru, que antaño reposaba en lechos suaves hechos de pelo de ciervo raṅku, yace ahora a ras de la tierra desnuda? ¡Ay, cómo habrá de dormir hoy Yudhiṣṭhira!»

Word by Word

कथम्how?

नुindeed/now (emphatic particle)

सत्यःtruthful

शुचिःpure

आर्यवृत्तःof noble conduct

ज्येष्ठःeldest

सुतानाम्of (my) sons

ममmy

धर्मराजःDharma-king (Yudhiṣṭhira)

अजातशत्रुःone whose enemies are not born (invincible/without foes)

पृथिवीतलेon the surface of the earth

सम्together/fully (preverb)

शेतेlies/sleeps

पुराformerly/once

राडकवकूटशायीone who lay on a rādaka-kavakūṭa bed (a kind of soft bedding)

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Dharmarāja (Yudhiṣṭhira)

Ajātaśatru (Yudhiṣṭhira)

pṛthivī (earth/ground)

raṅku-mṛga (raṅku deer)

raṅku-deer-hair bedding (raṅkavakūṭa-śayyā)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the ethical dignity of a righteous person: even one born to comfort and honor (Yudhiṣṭhira) endures hardship without losing truthfulness and noble conduct. It underscores dharma as inner character rather than external luxury.

What is happening in the narrative?

The speaker laments the reversal in Yudhiṣṭhira’s condition—once accustomed to soft, royal bedding, he now must sleep on the bare earth—evoking compassion and emphasizing the Pandavas’ suffering during exile.