Shloka 82
Chapter 47: Krauñca-vyūha Deployment and Conch-Signals
Kaurava–Pāṇḍava Readiness
अर्थस्य पुरुषो दासो दासस्त्वर्थों न कस्यचित् । इति सत्यं महाराज बद्धो<स्म्यर्थेन कौरवै:,पुरुष अर्थका दास है, अर्थ किसीका दास नहीं है। महाराज! यह सच्ची बात है। कौरवोंके द्वारा मैं अर्थसे बँधा हुआ हूँ
arthasya puruṣo dāso dāsas tv artho na kasyacit | iti satyaṃ mahārāja baddho 'smy arthena kauravaiḥ ||
Śalya said: “A man becomes the servant of wealth; wealth is the servant of no one. This, O great king, is the truth. It is by wealth that I have been bound—by the Kauravas.”
शल्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse warns that wealth (artha) easily becomes a master: people become its servants, compromising freedom and moral agency. Śalya frames this as a hard truth—material inducements can bind even capable individuals into obligations that conflict with their preferred course of action.
Śalya addresses a king (mahārāja) and admits that the Kauravas have secured his allegiance through wealth—he is ‘bound by money.’ The line functions as a candid confession of political and ethical constraint amid the war context of Bhīṣma Parva.