Shloka 24
मैत्रेयागमनम् — The Arrival of Maitreya and the Admonition to Duryodhana
युधि निर्जित्य पुरुषानाहारं नित्यमाचरन् | के यूयमभिसम्प्राप्ता भक्ष्यभूता ममान्तिकम् । युधि निर्जित्य व: सर्वान् भक्षयिष्ये गतज्वर:,“यहाँ आये हुए मनुष्योंको युद्धमें जीतकर सदा उन्हींको खाया करता हूँ। तुमलोग कौन हो? जो स्वयं ही मेरा आहार बननेके लिये मेरे निकट आ गये? मैं तुम सबको युद्धमें परास्त करके निश्चिन्त हो अपना आहार बनाऊँगा”
yudhi nirjitya puruṣān āhāraṁ nityam ācaran | ke yūyam abhisamprāptā bhakṣyabhūtā mamāntikam | yudhi nirjitya vaḥ sarvān bhakṣayiṣye gatajvaraḥ ||
“Setelah menewaskan manusia dalam pertempuran, aku menjadikan mereka makanan harianku. Siapakah kamu yang datang ke sini—seakan-akan sudah menjadi mangsaku—hingga mendekat ke hadapanku? Setelah menundukkan kamu semua dalam perang, aku akan melahap kamu, tanpa gentar dan tanpa gundah.”
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical inversion of dharma when violence becomes habitual and predatory: the speaker boasts of making defeated humans into ‘food,’ treating persons as consumable objects. It serves as a warning about adharma—cruelty, dehumanization, and the intoxication of power that erases moral restraint.
A threatening figure addresses those who have come near, declaring that he regularly defeats men in battle and eats them. He challenges their identity and announces his intent to conquer and devour them, claiming he will do so calmly (‘gata-jvaraḥ’), i.e., without anxiety or hesitation.