Shloka 2
Ādi Parva, Adhyāya 10: Ruru’s Vow and Ḍuṇḍubha’s Appeal (रुरोः प्रतिज्ञा—डुण्डुभोपदेशः)
भुजड़ूं वै सदा हन्यां यं यं पश्येयमित्युत । ततोऊहं त्वां जिघांसामि जीवितेनाद्य मोक्ष्यसे,रुरु बोला--सर्प! मेरी प्राणोंके समान प्यारी पत्नीको एक साँपने डँस लिया था। उसी समय मैंने यह घोर प्रतिज्ञा कर ली कि जिस-जिस सर्पको देख लूँगा, उसे-उसे अवश्य मार डालूँगा। उसी प्रतिज्ञाके अनुसार मैं तुम्हें मार डालना चाहता हूँ। अतः आज तुम्हें अपने प्राणोंसे हाथ धोना पड़ेगा
bhujagaṁ vai sadā hanyāṁ yaṁ yaṁ paśyem ity uta | tato 'haṁ tvāṁ jighāṁsāmi jīvitena 'dya mokṣyase ||
“Indeed, I have vowed that I will always kill whatever serpent I happen to see. Therefore I now intend to slay you; today you shall be parted from your life.” The speaker frames his act as fidelity to a prior vow born of grief, raising the ethical tension between personal vengeance and the broader demands of dharma.
धर्मराज उवाच
Educational Q&A
A vow made in grief can harden into indiscriminate violence; the verse spotlights the ethical problem of treating personal revenge as ‘duty,’ inviting reflection on whether dharma is fulfilled by mere vow-keeping or by discerning, proportionate action.
Ruru confronts a serpent and declares that, because of a prior oath to kill any snake he sees (after his wife was bitten), he now intends to kill this serpent as well.