Shloka 27
Ādi Parva, Adhyāya 113 — Maryādā-sthāpana (Śvetaketu’s Boundary) and the Niyoga Deliberation of Pāṇḍu and Kuntī
आगमस्कारी महीपानां बहूनां बलदर्पित: । गोप्ता मगधराष्ट्रस्य दीर्घो राजगृहे हत:,तत्पश्चात् वे नाना प्रकारकी ध्वजा-पताकाओंसे युक्त और बहुसंख्यक हाथी, घोड़े, रथ एवं पैदलोंसे भरी हुई भारी सेना लेकर मगधदेशमें गये। वहाँ राजगृहमें अनेक राजाओंका अपराधी बलाभिमानी मगधराज दीर्घ उनके हाथसे मारा गया
āgamaskārī mahīpānāṁ bahūnāṁ baladarpitaḥ | goptā magadharāṣṭrasya dīrgho rājagṛhe hataḥ ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Proud of his strength and guilty of wrongdoing against many kings, Dīrgha, the protector (ruler) of the Magadha realm, was slain at Rājagṛha. Thereafter, they entered the land of Magadha with a vast army—adorned with many kinds of banners and standards and filled with numerous elephants, horses, chariots, and foot-soldiers—and there, in Rājagṛha, the arrogant Magadha king Dīrgha, an offender against many rulers, was killed by their hands. The episode underscores a political-ethical logic common in the epic: oppressive power sustained by pride and injustice invites collective retribution and the restoration of order.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a recurring Mahābhārata ethic: rulership must be grounded in restraint and justice. When a king becomes ‘baladarpita’ (drunk on power) and ‘āgamaskārī’ (a wrongdoer) toward many rulers, his fall is portrayed as a corrective restoration of political-moral order.
Vaiśaṃpāyana reports that a large, bannered army marches into Magadha and, at its capital Rājagṛha, kills the Magadha king Dīrgha, described as arrogant and guilty of offenses against many kings.