Shloka 30
Duryodhana Seized by Citraseṇa; Kaurava Petition to Yudhiṣṭhira (दुर्योधनापहारः / चित्रसेनगन्धर्वग्रहणम्)
दैत्यानां या दितिर्माता तामाहुर्मुखमण्डिकाम् । अत्यर्थ शिशुमांसेन सम्प्रह्शा दुरासदा,दैत्योंकी माता जो दिति है, उसे “मुखमण्डिका” कहते हैं। वह छोटे बच्चोंके मांससे अधिक प्रसन्न होती है। उसे पराजित करना अत्यन्त कठिन है
daityānāṃ yā ditirmātā tāmāhur mukhamaṇḍikām | atyarthaṃ śiśumāṃsena samprahṛṣṭā durāsadā ||
Mārkaṇḍeya said: “Diti, the mother of the Daityas, is known by the name Mukhamaṇḍikā. She is exceedingly delighted by the flesh of infants, and she is very difficult to overcome.” The passage underscores a moral contrast: predatory craving and cruelty are portrayed as deeply adharmic, and such entrenched evil is depicted as formidable to confront.
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames extreme cruelty—especially harm to the most vulnerable—as a mark of profound adharma, and it cautions that such entrenched evil can be difficult to confront and defeat.
Mārkaṇḍeya identifies Diti, mother of the Daityas, by the epithet Mukhamaṇḍikā and characterizes her as fiercely predatory and hard to overcome, heightening the sense of threat in the surrounding account.