Shloka 28
Udyoga-parva Adhyāya 50 — Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Appraisal of Bhīmasena (भीमसेनभयवर्णनम्)
शैक्यां तात चतुष्किष्कुं पडस्रिममितौजसम् । प्रहितां दुःखसंस्पर्शा कथं शक्ष्यन्ति मे सुता:
śaikyāṃ tāta catuṣkiṣkuṃ ṣaḍasrim amitaujasam | prahitāṃ duḥkhasaṃsparśāṃ kathaṃ śakṣyanti me sutāḥ, tāta sañjaya ||
Dhṛtarāṣṭra disse: “Meu filho Sañjaya, a maça de ferro de Bhīmasena tem quatro côvados de comprimento, seis arestas e força incomensurável. Até o seu toque é doloroso. Quando Bhīma a lançar contra meus filhos, como poderão suportar seus golpes esmagadores?”
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how attachment and wrongdoing breed fear: Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s anxiety for his sons arises from the looming consequences of their hostility toward the Pāṇḍavas. It implicitly warns that adharma invites inevitable suffering, and that power used unjustly returns as terror to those who enable injustice.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra, speaking to Sañjaya, imagines the battlefield outcome and fixates on Bhīma’s formidable mace—its size, shape, and painful impact—wondering how his sons (the Kauravas) could survive when Bhīma strikes them with it.