Shloka 96

Devanagari script

इति यास्ता: कथं वीर संरक्ष्या: पुरुषैरिह । वीर! जिनके झूठको भी सच और सचको भी झूठ बताया गया है, ऐसी स्त्रियोंकी रक्षा पुरुष यहाँ कैसे कर सकते हैं?

Transliteration

iti yās tāḥ kathaṃ vīra saṃrakṣyāḥ puruṣair iha |

Translation

యుధిష్ఠిరుడు అన్నాడు—ఓ వీరా! ఎవరి అబద్ధాన్నే సత్యమని, సత్యాన్నే అబద్ధమని ప్రకటిస్తారో, అటువంటి స్త్రీలను ఈ లోకంలో పురుషులు ఎలా రక్షించగలరు?

Word by Word

इतिthus

याःwho/which (women)

ताःthose (women)

कथम्how

वीरO hero

संरक्ष्याःto be protected / should be protected

पुरुषैःby men

इहhere

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Yudhiṣṭhira

vīra (addressed hero, unspecified in the half-verse)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights a dharmic dilemma: protection and social responsibility become difficult when public judgment is inverted—when lies are treated as truth and truth is condemned as lie. It points to the ethical crisis created by distorted reputation and unreliable testimony.

What is happening in the narrative?

Yudhiṣṭhira addresses a ‘hero’ and raises a pointed question about how men can safeguard certain women in society when their words and character are misread or misrepresented—suggesting a context of slander, mistrust, and the collapse of fair discernment.