Shloka 25
Gāndhārī’s Lament and the Identification of Duḥśāsana (स्त्रीपर्व, अध्याय १८)
न बुद्धयसे त्व॑ं दुर्बुद्धे भीमसेनममर्षणम् । वाड्नाराचैस्तुदंस्ती क्ष्णफल्काभिरिव कुड्जरम्,श्रीकृष्ण! उस समय मैं राजा दुर्योधनसे बोली--“बेटा! शकुनि मौतके फंदेमें फँसा हुआ है। तुम इसका साथ छोड़ दो। पुत्र! तुम अपने इस खोटी बुद्धिवाले मामाको कलहप्रिय समझो और शीघ्र ही इसका परित्याग करके पाण्डवोंके साथ संधि कर लो। दुर्बुद्धे! तुम नहीं जानते भीमसेन कितने अमर्षशील हैं। तभी जलती लकड़ीसे हाथीको मारनेके समान तुम अपने तीखे वाग्बाणोंसे उन्हें पीड़ा दे रहे हो”
na buddhyase tvaṁ durbuddhe bhīmasenam amarṣaṇam | vāg-nārācais tudaṁs tīkṣṇa-phalakābhir iva kuñjaram ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “O foolish one, you do not understand Bhīmasena—how intolerant of insult he is. Yet you keep tormenting him with your sharp, arrow-like words, as though striking an elephant with burning, keen-tipped missiles. Such speech, driven by spite and quarrelsomeness, only hastens ruin and closes the door to reconciliation.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Harsh, weapon-like speech is ethically dangerous: it provokes the already wrathful, escalates conflict, and undermines the possibility of peace. Restraint in words is presented as a practical form of dharma.
The speaker warns that the person addressed is failing to recognize Bhīma’s fierce intolerance of insult and is needlessly provoking him with cutting words—likened to attacking an elephant with sharp, burning missiles—thereby inviting violent consequences.