Shloka 21

Bhīma–Draupadī Saṃvāda on Restraint, Protection, and the Kīcaka Threat

Virāṭa-parva, Adhyāya 20

Devanagari script

यस्या: सागरपर्यन्ता पृथिवी वशवर्तिनी | आसीतू साद्य सुदेष्णाया भीताहं वशवर्तिनी,पाण्डुनन्दन! देखो, तुम सबके जीते-जी मैं ऐसी बुरी हालतमें पड़ी हूँ, जो मेरे लिये कदापि उचित नहीं है। समयके इस उलट-फेरको तो देखो; एक दिन समुद्रके पासतककी सारी पृथ्वी जिसके अधीन थी, वही मैं आज सुदेष्णाके वशमें होकर उससे डरती रहती हूँ

Transliteration

yasyāḥ sāgara-paryantā pṛthivī vaśa-vartinī | āsīt sādy(a) sudeṣṇāyā bhītāhaṃ vaśa-vartinī, pāṇḍu-nandana! paśya, yuṣmāsu sarveṣu jīvatsu jīvatsu aham īdṛśīṃ dur-avasthāṃ prāptā, yā mama kadācid api na yuktā. kālasya asya viparyayaṃ paśya; ekadā yasyāḥ samudra-paryantā sarvā pṛthivī vaśe āsīt, sā aham adya sudeṣṇā-vaśe vartamānā tasmād bibhemi.

Translation

ไวศัมปายนะกล่าวว่า “ข้าพเจ้าผู้เคยให้แผ่นดินจรดขอบสมุทรอยู่ในอำนาจ บัดนี้กลับอยู่ใต้บังคับของสุเทศนา และหวาดกลัวนาง”

Word by Word

• {'yasyāḥ': 'of whom/whose (feminine genitive singular)', 'sāgara-paryantā': 'bounded by the ocean

• extending to the sea', 'pṛthivī': 'the earth

• realm', 'vaśa-vartinī': 'subject to one’s control

• under sway (feminine)', 'āsīt': 'was

• existed', 'adya': 'today

• now', 'sudeṣṇāyāḥ / sudeṣṇāyā': 'of Sudeṣṇā (queen of Virāṭa

• here indicating her authority)', 'bhītā': 'afraid

• fearful (feminine)', 'pāṇḍu-nandana': 'son of Pāṇḍu (address to a Pāṇḍava, contextually Yudhiṣṭhira)', 'kāla': 'time

• fate', 'viparyaya': 'reversal

• unexpected turn', 'ekadā': 'once

• formerly', 'vaśe vartamānā': 'remaining under control

• living in subjection', 'bibhemi': 'I fear'}

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Pāṇḍunandana (a Pāṇḍava, contextually Yudhiṣṭhira)
• Sudeṣṇā
• Pṛthivī (the earth/realm)
• Sāgara (the ocean)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the instability of worldly power and status: even one who once held sovereign authority can, by the turn of time, be forced into dependence and fear. Ethically, it underscores endurance under adversity and the dharmic restraint required during exile, when immediate retaliation may be improper despite injustice.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Virāṭa court setting during the Pāṇḍavas’ incognito exile, the speaker (in context, Draupadī speaking to a Pāṇḍava) laments her fallen condition: once a queen whose influence reached across the earth, she is now compelled to live under Queen Sudeṣṇā’s authority and feels threatened, pointing to the cruel reversal brought by circumstance.