Shloka 28
Dhṛtarāṣṭra–Duryodhana Dialogue on Peace and the Refusal of Compromise
महावनमिवच्छिन्नं यदा द्रक्ष्यसि पातितम् । बल॑ कुरूणां भीमेन तदा स्मर्तासि मे वच:
mahāvanam ivacchinnaṃ yadā drakṣyasi pātitam | balaṃ kurūṇāṃ bhīmena tadā smartāsi me vacaḥ ||
ビーマによってクル族の軍勢が倒されるのを――大森林が伐り払われて薙ぎ倒されるがごとく――目にするとき、そのとき汝は我が言葉を思い出すであろう。
दुर्योधन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how pride and overconfidence in war lead to grim recognition only after irreversible loss; it also underscores the epic’s moral tension between bravado and the reality of destruction.
Duryodhana, speaking to his ally (contextually Karṇa in this section), predicts that the Kuru forces will be cut down by Bhīma; he uses the image of a vast forest felled to emphasize the scale of slaughter and to insist his warning will later be remembered.