Shloka 9
Udyoga Parva, Adhyāya 73 — Kr̥ṣṇa’s Appraisal of Bhīma’s Altered Temper and Reaffirmation of Martial Resolve
पुरा प्रसन्ना: कुरव: सहपुत्रास्तथा वयम् । इन्द्रज्येष्ठा इवा भूम मोदमाना: सबान्धवा:
purā prasannāḥ kuravaḥ sahaputrās tathā vayam | indrajyeṣṭhā iva bhūma modamānāḥ sabāndhavāḥ ||
Bhīma se souvient d’un temps ancien où les Kurus, avec leurs fils, et nous aussi, étions tous comblés et en harmonie—comme les dieux ayant Indra pour premier—nous réjouissant dans l’unité avec tous nos parents. Le vers fait entendre le contraste éthique entre l’ancienne concorde familiale et l’effondrement actuel du dharma de parenté qui mène au conflit.
भीम उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the moral tragedy of a family’s fall from harmony into hostility: when kinship and shared joy are abandoned, adharma grows and war becomes thinkable. Remembering past concord functions as an ethical indictment of present choices.
Bhima is speaking and recalling an earlier period when both branches of the Kuru family lived happily together with their relatives, comparing that unity to the gods rejoicing under Indra’s leadership—implicitly contrasting it with the current rupture that is driving events toward war.