Shloka 8
स भवान् मर्षयत्येतांस्त्वत्तो भीतान् विशेषतः । शिष्यत्वं वा पुरस्कृत्य मम वा मन्दभाग्यताम्,फिर भी आप इन पाण्डवोंको क्षमा करते जाते हैं। यद्यपि वे आपसे विशेष भयभीत रहते हैं, तो भी वे आपके शिष्य हैं, इस बातको सामने रखकर या मेरे दुर्भाग्यका विचार करके आप उनकी उपेक्षा करते हैं
sa bhavān marṣayaty etāṁs tvatto bhītān viśeṣataḥ | śiṣyatvaṁ vā puraskṛtya mama vā mandabhāgyatām ||
Duryodhana said: “You keep pardoning these men, though they are especially afraid of you. Either you are putting forward their status as your disciples, or you are overlooking them out of consideration for my own ill fortune.”
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical tension between impartial duty in war and personal bonds: Duryodhana suspects that compassion or the teacher–disciple tie is weakening decisive action, and he frames leniency as either misplaced loyalty or a concession to fate.
In the midst of the Kurukṣetra conflict, Duryodhana addresses an elder commander/teacher and complains that the Pandavas are being spared despite fearing that commander; he attributes this restraint either to their being disciples or to the speaker’s pity for Duryodhana’s misfortune.