Shloka 4

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

Virāṭa-parva, Adhyāya 20

Devanagari script

चक्रवत्परिवर्तन्ते हरार्थाक्ष व्यसनानि च । इति कृत्वा प्रतीक्षामि भर्तृणामुदयं पुन:,धन और व्यसन (सम्पत्ति और विपत्ति) सदा गाड़ीके पहियेकी तरह घूमा करते हैं; ऐसा विचारकर मैं पतियोंके पुनः अभ्युदयकालकी प्रतीक्षा करती हूँ

Transliteration

cakravat parivartante harārthākṣa vyasanāni ca | iti kṛtvā pratīkṣāmi bhartṝṇām udayaṁ punaḥ ||

Translation

ความมั่งคั่งและความวิบัติ—สุขและทุกข์—หมุนเวียนดุจล้อเกวียน ด้วยความคิดนี้ เราจึงเฝ้ารอการกลับคืนสู่ความรุ่งเรืองของเหล่าสวามีอีกครั้ง

Word by Word

चक्रवत्like a wheel

परिवर्तन्तेthey revolve/turn about

हरार्थाक्षO Harārthākṣa (proper name, vocative address)

व्यसनानिcalamities/misfortunes

चand

इतिthus

कृत्वाhaving done/considered

प्रतीक्षामिI wait/expect

भर्तृणाम्of the husbands/lords

उदयम्rise/prosperity

पुनःagain

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

bhartṝṇām (the husbands)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse teaches that prosperity and misfortune are cyclical, like a wheel’s rotation; therefore one should endure hardship with patience and moral steadiness, trusting that conditions can change again.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Virāṭa episode, the speaker expresses a resolve to wait for the return of better times for her husbands, interpreting their present suffering as a temporary phase in the turning cycle of fortune.