Shloka 75
Kirmīra-rākṣasa-saṃgamaḥ (Encounter and Slaying of Kirmīra) | किर्मीरेण सह भीमसेनसमागमः
नन्विमे धनुषि श्रेष्ठा अजेया युधि शात्रवै: । किमर्थ धार्तराष्ट्राणां सहन्ते दुर्बलीयसाम्,ये धर्नुर्विद्यामें श्रेष्ठ तथा शत्रुओंद्वारा युद्धमें अजेय हैं तो भी दुर्बल धृतराष्ट्र-पुत्रोंका अत्याचार कैसे सहन करते हैं?
nanu ime dhanuṣi śreṣṭhā ajeyā yudhi śātravaiḥ | kimarthaṃ dhārtarāṣṭrāṇāṃ sahante durbalīyasām ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “Surely these men are foremost in the use of the bow, and in battle they are unconquerable by their foes. Why, then, do they endure the oppression of the Dhṛtarāṣṭras, who are weaker?”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames an ethical tension central to the epic: those who possess strength and martial excellence may still choose restraint. It invites reflection on when endurance of wrongdoing is dharmic (forbearance, strategic patience, respect for elders and social order) and when it becomes complicity that must be answered by righteous action.
Vaiśampāyana poses a rhetorical question about the mighty bowmen—implicitly the Pāṇḍavas—who are said to be unbeatable in war, yet continue to tolerate the harshness and domination of the Dhārtarāṣṭras, portrayed here as comparatively weaker.