Shloka 38
उद्योगपर्व — गान्धारी-उपदेशः
Udyoga Parva — Gandhārī’s Counsel to Duryodhana
“बूढ़े भोजराज उग्रसेनका पुत्र कंस बड़ा दुराचारी एवं अजितेन्द्रिय था। वह अपने पिताके जीते-जी उनका सारा ऐश्वर्य लेकर स्वयं राजा बन बैठा था, जिसका परिणाम यह हुआ कि वह मृत्युके अधीन हो गया ।।
ugrasenasutaḥ kaṁsaḥ parityaktaḥ sa bāndhavaiḥ | jñātīnāṁ hitakāmena mayā śasto mahāmṛdhe ||
Канса, сын Уграсены, престарелого царя бходжей, был развращён и не владел собой. При живом отце он захватил всё царское величие и сам сел на трон; и потому стал подвластен смерти. Все родичи отвернулись от него; и потому, желая блага своим, я в великой битве убил Кансу, сына Уграсены.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
A ruler who is self-indulgent and unjust, who seizes power and harms his own people, loses legitimacy and support; his fall is portrayed as a dharmic consequence. The verse also presents violence in war as ethically framed when undertaken for the protection and welfare of one’s community rather than personal gain.
The speaker reports that Kaṃsa, Ugrasena’s son, had been abandoned by his relatives, and that he was slain in a great battle by the narrator, who claims the motive was the welfare of his own kinsfolk.