Shloka 26
द्रौपदी-भीमसेनसंवादः
Draupadī–Bhīmasena Dialogue on Suffering, Kāla, and Daiva
भूषितं तमलंकारै: कुण्डलै: परिहाटकै: । कम्बुपाणिनमायान्तं दृष्टवा सीदति मे मन:
bhūṣitaṃ tam alaṅkāraiḥ kuṇḍalaiḥ parihāṭakaiḥ | kambupāṇinam āyāntaṃ dṛṣṭvā sīdati me manaḥ ||
उसे स्त्रीजनोचित आभूषणों से सुसज्जित, कुण्डल और स्वर्णाभूषण धारण किये, हाथों में शंख की चूड़ियाँ पहने हुए आते देखकर मेरा मन शोक से बैठ जाता है।
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Outer appearance can be strategically assumed for a righteous purpose without altering inner virtue; the verse underscores the emotional cost and social tension of such role-reversal, while implying that dharma may require difficult, even humiliating, adaptations to protect a greater good.
During the Pāṇḍavas’ incognito stay in Virāṭa’s kingdom, Arjuna appears in a feminized, ornamented guise (as Bṛhannalā). The narrator describes his own sorrow on seeing the great warrior approaching adorned with earrings, gold ornaments, and conch-shell bangles.