Shloka 19
Bhīma–Draupadī Saṃvāda on Restraint, Protection, and the Kīcaka Threat
Virāṭa-parva, Adhyāya 20
यस्या मम मुखप्रेक्षा यूयमिन्द्रसमा: सदा । सा प्रेक्षे मुखमन्यासामवराणां वरा सती,एक दिन वह था कि इन्द्रके समान पराक्रमी तुम सब भाई सदा मेरा मुँह निहारा करते थे। आज वही मैं श्रेष्ठ होकर भी अपनेसे निकृष्ट दूसरी स्त्रियोंका मुँह जोहती रहती हूँ
yasyā mama mukhaprekṣā yūyam indrasamāḥ sadā | sā prekṣe mukham anyāsām avarāṇāṁ varā satī ||
Sinabi ni Vaiśampāyana: “May panahong kayong magkakapatid—matapang na gaya ni Indra—ay laging tumitingin sa aking mukha upang humingi ng patnubay at pagsang-ayon. Ngayon, bagaman ako’y karapat-dapat at may mataas na dangal, ako’y napipilitang magmasid sa mukha ng ibang babae na mas mababa kaysa sa akin.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how dharma is tested when status and power collapse: inner worth may remain, yet one must endure dependence without abandoning self-respect. It also warns that worldly honor is unstable, so ethical steadiness must not rely solely on external position.
A noble woman recalls an earlier time when the Indra-like brothers (the Pāṇḍavas) looked to her face, implying her honored position; now, during hardship and concealment, she must look to the faces of other women deemed socially inferior, expressing the bitterness of reversal and enforced subordination.