Shloka 48
Droṇa’s Conditional Boon: The Plan to Capture Yudhiṣṭhira (द्रोणेन युधिष्ठिरग्रहणोपायः)
अनन्तमिदमैश्वर्य लोके प्राप्तो युधिष्ठिर:
anantam idam aiśvaryaṁ loke prāpto yudhiṣṭhiraḥ
Vaiśampāyana said: “Yudhiṣṭhira has attained in this world a boundless sovereignty (and splendor).” The line underscores the vast, almost immeasurable reach of royal power and fortune that has come to him—an achievement that, in the Mahābhārata’s ethical frame, also carries the weight of responsibility and the moral burden of how such power is gained and used amid war.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Worldly sovereignty can be vast and alluring, but in the Mahābhārata it is never morally neutral: immense power implies immense accountability, especially when acquired in the context of conflict.
The narrator Vaiśampāyana remarks that Yudhiṣṭhira has come to possess extraordinary worldly lordship—an observation that situates Yudhiṣṭhira’s status and the scale of his fortunes within the unfolding events of the war-centered Drona Parva.