Shloka 136
Rāmopākhyāna—Rāma–Sītā Origins and the Opening of Rāvaṇa’s Genealogy
राजसू[यं क्रतुश्रेष्ठं चिन््तयामास कौरव: । भरतकुलभूषण! महाराज! ऐसा कहकर दुर्योधनने कर्णको छातीसे लगा लिया और क्रतुश्रेष्ठ रजसूयका चिन्तन करने लगा
rājasūyaṃ kratuśreṣṭhaṃ cintayāmāsa kauravaḥ | bharatakula-bhūṣaṇa mahārāja iti bruvan duryodhanaḥ karṇaṃ vakṣasā pariṣvajya rājasūya-kratuśreṣṭhaṃ punaś cintayāmāsa |
Vaiśampāyana said: The Kaurava (Duryodhana), after speaking thus, embraced Karṇa to his chest and began to brood again on the Rājasūya—the foremost of royal sacrifices. In this moment the narrative highlights how ambition for supremacy and public legitimacy can harden into fixation, even when expressed through gestures of friendship and alliance.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how the pursuit of status and sovereignty (symbolized by the Rājasūya) can become an obsessive drive; even sincere bonds of friendship may be drawn into, and used to reinforce, ethically fraught ambitions.
Vaiśampāyana narrates that Duryodhana, after speaking, embraces Karṇa warmly and then turns his mind again to the Rājasūya sacrifice—signaling renewed focus on achieving royal preeminence.