Shloka 31
द्रौपदी-स्वयंवर-प्रारम्भः
Commencement of Draupadī’s Svayaṃvara
राजा तु रक्षसा5<विष्ट: सूदमाह गतव्यथ: । अप्येनं नरमांसेन भोजयेति पुन: पुन:,राजापर राक्षसका आवेश था, अतः उन्होंने रसोइयेसे निश्चिन्त होकर कहा--“उस ब्राह्मणको मनुष्यका मांस ही खिला दो' यह बात उन्होंने बार-बार दुहरायी
rājā tu rakṣasāviṣṭaḥ sūdam āha gatavyathaḥ | apy enaṃ naramāṃsena bhojayeti punaḥ punaḥ ||
पण राजा राक्षसाविष्ट होता; तो निर्व्यथ होऊन स्वयंपाक्याला म्हणाला—‘याला मनुष्य-मांसच खाऊ घाल’—आणि हे तो पुन्हा पुन्हा म्हणत राहिला।
गन्धर्व उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how demonic influence (rakṣasāveśa) can invert a ruler’s dharma: a king who should protect subjects and uphold moral order instead issues a cruel, taboo command. It underscores the ethical idea that adharma often manifests as loss of conscience and repeated insistence on wrongdoing.
A gandharva narrates that the king has become possessed by a rākṣasa. In that state, he repeatedly orders the palace cook to feed a man—understood in context as a brāhmaṇa—human flesh, showing the extremity of the king’s moral collapse under possession.