Shloka 30

Duryodhana Seized by Citraseṇa; Kaurava Petition to Yudhiṣṭhira (दुर्योधनापहारः / चित्रसेनगन्धर्वग्रहणम्)

Devanagari script

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

Transliteration

daityānāṃ yā ditirmātā tāmāhur mukhamaṇḍikām | atyarthaṃ śiśumāṃsena samprahṛṣṭā durāsadā ||

Translation

マールカンデーヤは言った。「ダイティヤ族の母ディティは、ムカマンダー（Mukhamaṇḍikā）と呼ばれる。彼女は乳児の肉をことのほか喜び、打ち倒すことはきわめて難しい。」

Word by Word

दैत्यानाम्of the Daityas

याwho

दितिःDiti

माताmother

ताम्her

आहुःthey call / they have said

मुखमण्डिकाम्Mukhamandikā (name/title)

अत्यर्थम्exceedingly, very much

शिशुमांसेनby/with the flesh of infants

सम्प्रहृष्यतेrejoices greatly / is delighted

दुरासदाhard to overpower/assail

Speaker

मार्कण्डेय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Mārkaṇḍeya

Diti

Daityas

Mukhamaṇḍikā

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

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.

What is happening in the narrative?

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.