Shloka 26

अध्याय ३० — क्रोधदोषाः क्षमाप्रशंसा च

Defects of Anger and the Praise of Forbearance

Devanagari script

मणि: सूत्र इव प्रोतो नस्योत इव गोवृष: । स्रोतसो मध्यमापन्न: कूलाद्‌ वृक्ष इव च्युत:

Transliteration

maṇiḥ sūtra iva protaḥ nāsyota iva govṛṣaḥ | srotaso madhyamāpannaḥ kūlād vṛkṣa iva cyutaḥ ||

Translation

యుధిష్ఠిరుడు అన్నాడు— నేను దారంలో గుచ్చిన మణిలా ఉన్నాను; ముక్కులో తాడు కట్టిన బలమైన ఎద్దులా ఉన్నాను; ప్రవాహం మధ్యలోకి కొట్టుకుపోయినవాడిలా ఉన్నాను; తీరం నుంచి తెగిపడి ధారలో పడిన చెట్టులా ఉన్నాను।

Word by Word

मणिःa jewel

सूत्रेon/in a thread

इवlike, as if

प्रोतःstrung, threaded

नास्यःone led by the nose / nose-led

इवlike, as if

गोवृषःa bull (of cattle)

स्रोतसःof the stream/current

मध्यमम्the middle

आपन्नःhaving reached, fallen into

कूलात्from the bank

वृक्षःa tree

इवlike, as if

च्युतःfallen, slipped down

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Yudhiṣṭhira

jewel (maṇi)

thread (sūtra)

bull (govṛṣa)

nose-rope/halter (nāsāyota)

stream/current (srotas)

riverbank (kūla)

tree (vṛkṣa)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse conveys the ethical and psychological truth that even a righteous person may feel bound and carried by forces beyond immediate control—like a jewel on a string or a bull led by a halter—yet the dharmic response is to endure, reflect, and act rightly when agency returns, rather than collapse into despair.

What is happening in the narrative?

Yudhiṣṭhira expresses his helplessness and dislocation during the hardships of exile, using a chain of similes: he is constrained (strung/halter-led) and swept into danger (midstream), like a tree uprooted from the bank—capturing the Pandavas’ precarious condition and his inner turmoil.