Shloka 91
Udyoga-parva Adhyāya 47 — Arjuna’s Deterrent Declaration
Sañjaya’s Report
धर्मेणाप्तं निधनं तस्य मन्ये यो योत्स्यते पाण्डवै: पापबुद्धि: । मिथ्या ग्लहे निर्जिता वै नृशंसै: संवत्सरान् वै द्वादश राजपुत्रा:
sañjaya uvāca |
dharmeṇāptaṃ nidhanaṃ tasya manye yo yotsyate pāṇḍavaiḥ pāpabuddhiḥ |
mithyāglahе nirjitā vai nṛśaṃsaiḥ saṃvatsarān vai dvādaśa rājaputrāḥ ||
Sabi ni Sañjaya: “Itinuturing kong, ayon sa batas ng dharma, tiyak na ang kamatayan para sa sinumang may makasalanang hangarin na pipiling makidigma laban sa mga Pāṇḍava. Sapagkat ang mga malulupit na yaon ay nanalo sa mga prinsipe sa pamamagitan ng mapanlinlang na laro ng sugal at itinaboy sila sa pagkatapon sa gubat sa loob ng labindalawang taon—gayong sila man ay mga anak ng hari.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames moral causality: to wage war against the Pandavas after the injustice of the deceitful dice-game is to align oneself with adharma, and such a choice is portrayed as inevitably leading to ruin. Ethical wrongdoing (fraud, cruelty, unjust dispossession) ripens into destructive consequences in the arena of war.
Sanjaya comments on the impending conflict, judging that anyone who fights the Pandavas with wicked intent is already marked for death by dharma’s logic. He recalls the earlier wrong: the Kauravas, through a fraudulent gambling match, defeated the princes and sent them to a twelve-year forest exile despite their royal status.