Shloka 52

Udyoga-parva Adhyāya 28: Dharmādharmalakṣaṇa in Āpad

Crisis-Discernment of Right and Wrong

Devanagari script

द्यूतके समय जब पाण्डव हार गये थे, तब दुर्योधनने उनके प्रति बड़ी भयानक और कड़वी बातें कही थीं; अतः सदा सावधान रहनेवाले भीमसेन युद्धके समय गदा हाथमें लेकर दुर्योधनको उन बातोंकी याद दिलायेंगे ।। सुयोधनो मन्युमयो महाद्रुम: स्कन्ध: कर्ण: शकुनिस्तस्य शाखा: । दुःशासन: पुष्पफले समद्धे मूलं राजा धृतराष्ट्रोइमनीषी

Transliteration

dyūtake samaye yadā pāṇḍavā hārāḥ gatāḥ, tadā duryodhanena teṣu prati bhayānakāḥ kaṭukāś ca vācaḥ uktāḥ; ataḥ sadā sāvadhāno 'pi bhīmasenaḥ yuddha-samaye gadāṃ haste gṛhītvā duryodhanaṃ tābhir vāgbhir anusmārayiṣyati || suyodhano manyumayo mahādrumaḥ, skandhaḥ karṇaḥ, śakunistasya śākhāḥ | duḥśāsanaḥ puṣpaphale samṛddhe, mūlaṃ rājā dhṛtarāṣṭro 'manīṣī ||

Translation

Vāyu-deva disse: “Quando os Pāṇḍavas perderam no jogo de dados, Duryodhana lhes dirigiu palavras terríveis e amargas. Por isso, na hora da batalha, Bhīmasena—sempre vigilante—tomará sua maça e fará Duryodhana recordar aquelas cruéis zombarias. Suyodhana (Duryodhana) é como uma grande árvore feita de ira: Karṇa é o seu tronco, e Śakuni os seus ramos. Duḥśāsana são suas flores e frutos abundantes, e sua raiz é o rei Dhṛtarāṣṭra—falto de discernimento.”

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'dyūta', 'definition': 'gambling

• dice-game'}, {'term': 'samaya', 'definition': 'occasion

• circumstance'}, {'term': 'pāṇḍava', 'definition': 'the sons of Pāṇḍu

• the Pāṇḍavas'}, {'term': 'hāra / hārāḥ', 'definition': 'defeat

• loss (especially in gambling)'}, {'term': 'bhayānaka', 'definition': 'terrifying

• dreadful'}, {'term': 'kaṭuka', 'definition': 'harsh

• cutting (speech)'}, {'term': 'vāc / vācaḥ', 'definition': 'speech

• utterance'}, {'term': 'sāvadhāna', 'definition': 'vigilant

• attentive'}, {'term': 'yuddha', 'definition': 'war

• battle'}, {'term': 'gadā', 'definition': 'mace (Bhīma’s weapon)'}, {'term': 'anusmārayati', 'definition': 'to remind

• to call to mind'}, {'term': 'manyu', 'definition': 'wrath

• fierce indignation'}, {'term': 'mahādruma', 'definition': 'great tree (metaphor for a powerful, growing evil)'}, {'term': 'skandha', 'definition': 'trunk

• main stem (of a tree)'}, {'term': 'śākhā', 'definition': 'branch'}, {'term': 'puṣpa-phala', 'definition': 'flowers and fruits

• outcomes/manifestations'}, {'term': 'samṛddha', 'definition': 'abundant

• flourishing'}, {'term': 'mūla', 'definition': 'root

• underlying cause'}, {'term': 'amanīṣī', 'definition': 'without good judgment

Speaker

वायुदेव उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vāyu-deva
• Pāṇḍavas
• Duryodhana (Suyodhana)
• Bhīmasena
• Gadā (mace)
• Karṇa
• Śakuni
• Duḥśāsana
• Dhṛtarāṣṭra

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Cruel speech and unrighteous triumph (as in the dice-hall) plant seeds that ripen into inevitable confrontation. The verse frames adharma as a growing organism: anger-fed leadership, enabled by allies, and rooted in a ruler’s lack of discernment—showing how moral failure becomes systemic and bears violent consequences.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vāyu-deva foretells that Bhīma will, in battle, confront Duryodhana with the memory of his bitter insults from the gambling episode. He then characterizes the Kaurava faction through a tree-metaphor: Duryodhana as the wrathful tree, Karṇa as the trunk, Śakuni as the branches, Duḥśāsana as its flourishing flowers and fruits, and Dhṛtarāṣṭra as the unwise root sustaining it.