Shloka 2
Ādi Parva, Adhyāya 186 — Drupada’s Summons and the Pāñcāla Reception
रूपेण वीर्येण कुलेन चैव शीलेन वित्तेन च यौवनेन । समिद्धदर्पा मदवेगभिनज्ना मत्ता यथा हैमवता गजेन्द्रा:,वैशम्पायनजी कहते हैं-जनमेजय! वे सब नवयुवक राजा अनेक आशभूषणोंसे विभूषित हो कानोंमें कुण्डल पहने और परस्पर लाग-डाँट रखते हुए हाथोंमें अस्त्र-शस्त्र लिये अपने-अपने आसनोंसे उठने लगे। उन्हें अपनेमें ही सबसे अधिक अस्त्रविद्या और बलके होनेका अभिमान था; सभीको अपने रूप, पराक्रम, कुल, शील, धन और जवानीका बड़ा घमंड था। वे सभी मस्तकसे वेगपूर्वक मदकी धारा बहानेवाले हिमाचल-प्रदेशके गजराजोंकी भाँति उन्मत्त हो रहे थे
rūpeṇa vīryeṇa kulena caiva śīlena vittena ca yauvanena | samiddha-darpā mada-vega-bhinna-jñā mattā yathā haimavatā gajendrāḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “O Janamejaya, those young kings, intoxicated with pride, exulted in their own beauty, valor, lineage, conduct, wealth, and youth. Their arrogance blazed high; their judgment was shattered by the rush of intoxication. Like the lordly elephants of the Himālaya, they became frenzied—an image that warns how prosperity and power, when ungoverned by self-restraint, quickly turn into heedless aggression.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse cautions that external advantages—beauty, power, noble birth, good conduct, wealth, and youth—can become causes of ruin when they inflate darpa (arrogance). When mada (intoxication/pride) overwhelms jñā (judgment), one behaves like a musth elephant: powerful but uncontrolled, prone to harm.
Vaiśampāyana describes a group of young kings becoming increasingly overconfident. Their pride is portrayed as blazing, and their discernment as broken by intoxication; the simile of Himalayan elephant-lords conveys their swelling aggression and loss of restraint, setting the tone for impending confrontation.