Shloka 19

Adhyaya 60: Self-Assertion, Daiva, and the Rhetoric of Inevitability (उद्योग पर्व)

Devanagari script

यदि होते समर्था: स्युर्मद्द्विषस्त्रातुमजजसा । न सम त्रयोदश समा: पार्था दुःखमवाप्रुयु:,“यदि ये लोग अनायास ही मेरे शत्रुओंकी रक्षा करनेमें समर्थ होते तो कुन्तीके पुत्र तेरह वर्षोतक कष्ट नहीं भोगते

Transliteration

yadi hote samarthāḥ syur mad-dviṣas trātum ajjasā | na sama trayodaśa samāḥ pārthā duḥkham avāpruyuḥ ||

Translation

ໄວສັມປາຍະນະ ກ່າວວ່າ: «ຖ້າພວກເຂົາມີຄວາມສາມາດຈິງໆ ທີ່ຈະປົກປ້ອງສັດຕູຂອງຂ້າພະເຈົ້າໄດ້ຢ່າງງ່າຍດາຍ, ລູກຊາຍຂອງກຸນຕີ—ພາຣຖະທັງຫຼາຍ—ກໍຄົງບໍ່ຈຳເປັນຕ້ອງທົນທຸກຢູ່ຄົບສິບສາມປີ»។

Word by Word

यदिif

होतेthey are / would be

समर्थाःcapable

स्युःmight be / would be

मत्my

द्विषःenemies

त्रातुम्to protect

अजसाeasily, without effort

नnot

सम्together; completely (emphatic particle here)

त्रयोदशthirteen

समाःyears

पार्थाःthe sons of Kunti / the Pandavas

दुःखम्suffering, hardship

अवाप्रुयुःwould obtain / would undergo

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Pārthas (Pāṇḍavas)

Kuntī

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 underscores a moral inference from outcomes: if powerful protectors truly could have safeguarded the wrongdoers (or ‘enemies’) effortlessly, the righteous would not have been forced into prolonged suffering. It highlights how claims of strength, protection, or legitimacy are tested by the real consequences borne by the innocent.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Udyoga Parva’s lead-up to war, the narrator Vaiśampāyana comments on the political situation by pointing to the Pāṇḍavas’ thirteen-year ordeal. Their long exile and hardship are presented as evidence that those aligned against them were not able (or not willing) to protect their side in a way that prevented injustice and suffering.