Shloka 11

Duryodhana’s Account of Gandharva Defeat and the Pandavas’ Intervention (दुर्योधनवर्णितो गन्धर्वसंग्रामः)

Devanagari script

कथं नु वातातपकर्शिताड्रो वृकोदर: कोपपरिप्लुताड़: । शेते पृथिव्यामतथोचिताड्: कृष्णासमक्षं वसुधातलस्थ:,'भीमसेनका शरीर हवा और धूपका कष्ट सहन करनेसे अत्यन्त दुर्बल हो गया होगा। उनका अंग-अंग क्रोधसे काँपता और फड़कता होगा। वे द्रौपदीके सामने कैसे धरतीपर शयन करते होंगे? उनका शरीर ऐसा कष्ट भोगनेयोग्य नहीं है

Transliteration

kathaṁ nu vātātapa-karśitāṅgo vṛkodaraḥ kopapariplutāṅgaḥ | śete pṛthivyām atathocitāṅgaḥ kṛṣṇā-samakṣaṁ vasudhātala-sthaḥ ||

Translation

Disse Vaiśampāyana: “Como pode Vṛkodara (Bhīma) deitar-se sobre a terra nua—com o corpo gasto pelo vento e pelo sol, e os membros inundados de ira e tremor—ali no chão, na própria presença de Kṛṣṇā (Draupadī), quando tal aspereza não condiz com sua força e condição?”

Word by Word

• {'kathaṁ nu': 'how indeed?, how possibly?', 'vāta': 'wind', 'ātapa': 'sun-heat, scorching sunlight', 'karśita': 'emaciated, weakened, worn down', 'aṅga': 'limb

• body', 'vṛkodara': '‘wolf-bellied’

• Bhīma (epithet)', 'kopa': 'anger, wrath', 'paripluta': 'flooded, overwhelmed, pervaded', 'śete': 'lies down, sleeps', 'pṛthivyām': 'on the earth/ground', 'atathā-ucita': 'not proper, not befitting', 'kṛṣṇā': 'Draupadī (epithet)', 'samakṣam': 'in the presence of, before', 'vasudhā-tala': 'surface of the earth

• ground', 'stha': 'standing/being situated

• here: lying on'}

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Vṛkodara (Bhīmasena)
• Kṛṣṇā (Draupadī)
• Pṛthivī/Vasudhā (the earth/ground)
• Vāta (wind)
• Ātapa (sun-heat)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the ethical tension between righteous endurance and the destructive surge of anger: a heroic person may be forced into hardship, yet must bear it with dignity and self-control, especially in the presence of those who depend on him.

What is happening in the narrative?

The narrator reflects on Bhīma’s condition during the forest exile—worn by exposure to wind and sun, inwardly seething with wrath—wondering how he can lie on the bare ground before Draupadī, since such suffering seems unfitting for him.