Shloka 16
और्वोपाख्यानम्
Aurva Episode: Restoration of Sight and Restraint of World-Destructive Anger
अजुन उवाच समुद्रे हिमवत्पाश्वे नद्यामस्यां च दुर्मते । रात्रावहनि संध्यायां कस्य गुप्त: परिग्रह:,अर्जुन बोले-<दुर्मते! समुद्र, हिमालयकी तराई और गंगानदीके तटपर रात, दिन अथवा संध्याके समय किसका अधिकार सुरक्षित है?
arjuna uvāca samudre himavatpārśve nadyām asyāṁ ca durmate | rātrāv ahani sandhyāyāṁ kasya guptaḥ parigrahaḥ ||
Arjuna disse: “Ó homem de mente perversa! Na praia do mar, nas encostas do Himālaya e na margem deste rio—à noite, de dia ou ao crepúsculo—de quem pode, de fato, manter-se segura uma pretensão de posse? Quem pode reter tal domínio como se estivesse protegido e fosse exclusivamente seu?”
अजुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse challenges the idea of secure, exclusive ownership over open and contested spaces (seashores, riverbanks, mountain foothills), implying that attachment to possession (parigraha) is fragile and ethically questionable when it rests on force or opportunism.
Arjuna addresses an opponent as “durmate” and questions whose ‘protected claim’ can exist in such public, liminal places and times (night/day/twilight), using rhetorical force to undermine the other party’s assertion of right or control.