Shloka 25
Udyoga Parva, Adhyāya 72 — Bhīmasena’s counsel on conciliation and Duryodhana’s disposition
शत्रुसूदन! कुलीन पुरुषकी निन्दा हो या वध--इनमेंसे वध ही उसके लिये अत्यन्त गुणकारक है; निन्दा नहीं। निन्दा तो जीवनको घृणित बना देती है ।।
tadaiva nihato rājan yadaiva nirapatrapaḥ | ninditaś ca mahārāja pṛthivyāṁ sarvarājabhiḥ ||
हे महाराज! या पृथ्वीवरील सर्व राजांनी त्या निर्लज्ज दुर्योधनाची निंदा केली, त्याच क्षणी तो, हे राजन्, एका अर्थाने मारलाच गेला. कुलीनासाठी लोकनिंदा मृत्यूपेक्षाही अधिक घातक असते।
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames public condemnation (nindā) as a form of moral death for a kṣatriya: honor sustains life’s worth, and when a person is universally censured, his social and ethical standing collapses as if he were already slain.
Yudhiṣṭhira addresses the king and remarks that Duryodhana’s shamelessness has already met its downfall: once all rulers denounce him, he is effectively ‘killed’ in reputation, foreshadowing the inevitable ruin that follows adharma.