Shloka 108
Adhyāya 141 — Night duels: Śaineya and Bhūriśravas; Droṇi and Ghaṭotkaca; Bhīma and Duryodhana
मल्लयुद्ध॑ मया सार्ध कुरु दुष्कुलसम्भव । महाबलो महाभोगी कीचको निहतो यथा
mallayuddhaṁ mayā sārdha kuru duṣkulasambhava | mahābalo mahābhogī kīcako nihato yathā ||
सञ्जय उवाच—मल्लयुद्धं मया सार्धं कुरु, दुष्कुलसम्भव! महाबलो महाभोगी, कीचकः निहतो यथा, तथा त्वां निहनिष्यामि।
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how pride and contemptuous speech (insults, self-boasting) are used to provoke combat; ethically, it contrasts the warrior ideal of courage with the moral risk of arrogance and demeaning others.
A speaker issues a direct challenge to a Kuru warrior for close-quarters ‘wrestler-style’ combat, boasting of strength and invoking the earlier example of Kīcaka’s death as a threat of similar defeat.