Shloka 52
धृतराष्ट्र-संजय-संवादः — दुर्योधनस्य ह्रदप्रवेशः
Dhṛtarāṣṭra–Saṃjaya Dialogue: Duryodhana’s Entry into the Lake
निहतास्ते दुरात्मानो येडस्मानवहसन् पुरा । दुर्योधन: कुलाड्रार: शिष्टस्त्वं चास्य मातुल:
nihatās te durātmāno ye ’smān avahasan purā | duryodhanaḥ kulāṅgāraḥ śiṣṭas tvaṃ cāsya mātulaḥ ||
Sañjaya said: “Those wicked men who once mocked us in former days have been slain. Now only Duryodhana—the disgrace of his lineage—remains, and you, his maternal uncle. Today I shall sever your head with a razor-sharp blade and deliver you to death, just as fruit is struck down from a tree with a beating stick.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the moral arc of the epic: arrogance and cruelty that once expressed itself as mockery and humiliation ultimately meet retribution in war. It also shows how, in the late stage of the conflict, speech becomes a weapon—condemning adharma (wicked conduct) and framing the enemy as a ‘disgrace to the lineage,’ while justifying harsh action as the inevitable consequence of prior wrongdoing.
In Shalya Parva, as the war nears its end, the speaker reports a taunt/threat: most of the earlier mockers have been killed; only Duryodhana and his maternal uncle remain. The speaker vows to kill the uncle by cutting off his head with a razor-like blade, using a simile of knocking fruit from a tree with a stick to convey swift, forceful destruction.