Shloka 48

Ulūka’s Provocation and Keśava’s Counter-Message (उलूकदूत्ये केशवप्रत्युत्तरम्)

Devanagari script

त्वत्कृते दुष्टभावस्य संत्यागो विदुरस्य च । जातुषे च गृहे दाहं समर तं पुरुषो भव,“तुम्हारे लिये ही मैंने दुष्टात्मा विदुरका परित्याग कर दिया है। लाक्षागृहमें अपने जलाये जानेकी घटनाका स्मरण करो और अबसे भी मर्द बन जाओ

Transliteration

tvatkṛte duṣṭabhāvasya saṃtyāgo vidurasya ca | jātūṣe ca gṛhe dāhaṃ smara taṃ puruṣo bhava ||

Translation

サンジャヤは言った。「汝のために、我らに背く心を抱くヴィドゥラを退けた。蝋の館の炎を思い起こせ。そして今より――男となれ。」

Word by Word

त्वत्कृतेfor your sake

दुष्टभावस्यof the wicked disposition

संत्यागःabandonment/renunciation

विदुरस्यof Vidura

चand

जातुषेin the lac (house)

चand

गृहेin the house

दाहम्burning/conflagration

स्मरremember

तम्that (event)

पुरुषःa man

भवbe/become

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Vidura

Jātugṛha (house of lac)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse shows how political loyalty and wounded pride can override ethical counsel: recalling past violence (the lac-house plot) is used to justify hardening one’s stance and rejecting a voice of dharmic prudence (Vidura).

What is happening in the narrative?

In Udyoga Parva’s pre-war tensions, Sañjaya reports a statement that the speaker had cast off Vidura’s advice and urges the addressee to remember the lac-house burning episode and act with aggressive resolve.