Shloka 76
अध्याय ९ — कर्णस्य प्रहारः, योधयुग्मनियोजनम्, शैनेय-कैकेययोर्युद्धविन्यासः
हतोत्साहं बल दृष्टवा किंस्विद् दुर्योधनो<ब्रवीत् | जो किसीकी सीख नहीं मानता है, जिसे अपनी विद्धत्ता और बुद्धिमत्ताका अभिमान है, उस दुर्बुद्धि, अजितेन्द्रिय दुर्योधनने अपने सेनाको हतोत्साह देखकर क्या कहा? ।।
hatotsāhaṃ balaṃ dṛṣṭvā kiṃ svid duryodhano 'bravīt | svayaṃ vairaṃ mahat kṛtvā vāryamāṇaḥ suhṛdgaṇaiḥ ||
हतोत्साहं बलं दृष्ट्वा किंस्विद् दुर्योधनोऽब्रवीत् । स्वयं वैरं महत्कृत्वा वार्यमाणः सुहृद्गणैः ॥
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a moral warning: pride in one’s own intellect and refusal to accept good counsel lead to self-created hostility and ruin. A leader who ignores well-wishers’ restraint becomes the cause of collective demoralization and ethical collapse.
The narrator Vaiśampāyana sets up Duryodhana’s forthcoming words: Duryodhana sees his forces dispirited on the battlefield and, despite earlier attempts by friends to dissuade him from the path of enmity, he prepares to speak—signaling a critical moment of command and reaction in the war.