Shloka 33
शल्यपर्व — चतुर्विंशोऽध्यायः | Śalya Parva, Chapter 24: Disruption of Kaurava Formations and the Elephant Encirclement
'राजाके कुलमें उत्पन्न होकर विशेषत: कुरुकुलकी संतान होकर दुर्योधनके सिवा दूसरा कौन ऐसा है, जो व्यर्थ ही (अपने बन्धुओंके साथ) महान् वैर बाँधे ।।
rājāke kule utpannaḥ, viśeṣataḥ kurukulasya santānaḥ san, duryodhanāt paraḥ kaḥ saḥ yo vṛthāiva (svabandhubhiḥ saha) mahad vairaṃ bāndhet? guṇato 'bhyadhikān jñātvā balataḥ śauryataḥ api vā | amūḍhaḥ ko nu yuddhyeta jānan prājño hitāhitam ||
サञ्जयは言った。「王家に生まれ、ことに俱盧（クル）家の末裔として—ドゥルヨーダナをおいて他に誰が、むなしくも大いなる怨みを結び、しかも自らの親族にまで敵対するであろうか。相手が徳において、力において、あるいは武勇においてさえ自分に勝ると知りながら、利と害を弁える明晰な賢者のうち、誰が彼らと戦うことを選ぶというのか。」
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
A discerning person who understands benefit and harm does not initiate futile hostility—especially against one’s own kin—when the opponents are known to be superior in virtue, strength, or valor. The verse frames Duryodhana’s war as a uniquely irrational, ethically compromised choice driven by delusion rather than wisdom.
Sañjaya, narrating events to Dhṛtarāṣṭra, comments on the Kuru conflict and singles out Duryodhana as exceptional in binding himself to a pointless, great enmity with his own relatives, despite knowing their superiority and despite understanding the disastrous consequences of such a war.