Shloka 14
जतुगृहदाहः — The Burning of the Lac House and the Pāṇḍavas’ Concealed Escape
दुर्योधन उवाच स्वागतं ते महाबाहो दिष्ट्या प्राप्तोडसि मानद | अहं च कुरुराज्यं च यथेष्टमुपभुज्यताम्,दुर्योधन बोला--महाबाहो! तुम्हारा स्वागत है। मानद! तुम यहाँ पधारे, यह हमारे लिये बड़े सौभाग्यकी बात है। मैं तथा कौरवोंका यह राज्य सब तुम्हारे हैं। तुम इनका यसथेष्ट उपभोग करो
duryodhana uvāca | svāgataṃ te mahābāho diṣṭyā prāpto 'si mānada | ahaṃ ca kururājyaṃ ca yatheṣṭam upabhujyatām ||
Duryodhana said: “Welcome to you, mighty-armed one. It is our good fortune that you have arrived, O giver of honor. Let both I and this kingdom of the Kurus be enjoyed by you as you please.” In context, the speech frames hospitality and alliance as political strategy: Duryodhana offers himself and the Kuru realm as if at the guest’s disposal, seeking to bind the visitor through gratitude and obligation rather than through dharmic deliberation.
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how courteous hospitality can function as statecraft: generous words and offers create social and moral pressure to reciprocate, showing the ethical tension between genuine dharma (true honoring of a guest) and calculated diplomacy.
Duryodhana formally receives a powerful guest, praises his arrival as auspicious, and offers unrestricted enjoyment of himself and the Kuru kingdom—an attempt to secure the visitor’s goodwill and allegiance.