Shloka 16
विदुरस्य द्रुपदसमीपगमनम् — Vidura Conveys Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Message to Drupada
रूपयौवनदाक्षिण्यैरुपेताश्व स्वलंकृता: । प्रेष्या: सम्प्रददौ कृष्णो नानादेश्या: स्वलंकृता:,रूप-यौवन और चातुर्य आदि गुणोंसे सम्पन्न तथा वस्त्राभूषणोंसे अलंकृत अनेक देशोंकी सजी-धजी बहुत सी सुन्दरी सेविकाएँ भी समर्पित कीं
rūpa-yauvana-dākṣiṇyair upetāś ca su-alaṅkṛtāḥ | preṣyāḥ sampradadau kṛṣṇo nānādeśyāḥ su-alaṅkṛtāḥ ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Kṛṣṇa also presented many attendant maidservants—women from various regions—endowed with beauty, youth, and gracious skill, and adorned with fine garments and ornaments. In the narrative context, this forms part of a formal gift-offering that reflects the period’s courtly norms of wealth and hospitality, while also raising an ethical tension between social custom and the personal agency of those treated as transferable property.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse illustrates how royal dāna (formal gifting) functioned as a public expression of prosperity and alliance-building; ethically, it invites reflection on dharma when social customs treat human attendants as transferable gifts, highlighting the tension between accepted norms and individual dignity.
Vaiśaṃpāyana reports that Kṛṣṇa, as part of a larger presentation of gifts, bestows many well-adorned female attendants from different regions, described as possessing beauty, youth, and courteous skill.