Shloka 4

सभा-पर्यवसान-प्रस्थानवचनम् | Counsel at the Point of Departure

Devanagari script

द्रौपहयुवाच स्वयंवरे यास्मि नृपैर्दृष्टा रड़े समागतै: । न दृष्टपूर्वा चान्यत्र साहमद्य सभां गता

Transliteration

draupady uvāca—svayaṃvare yāsmī nṛpair dṛṣṭā raṅge samāgataiḥ | na dṛṣṭapūrvā cānyatra sāham adya sabhāṃ gatā ||

Translation

Draupadī nói: “Than ôi! Trong lễ svayaṃvara, ta đã bước vào hội trường, và các vua chúa tụ hội nơi đấu trường đã nhìn thấy ta. Ngoài dịp ấy, trước hôm nay chưa từng có ai thấy ta ở bất cứ nơi đâu. Vậy mà hôm nay ta bị lôi vào triều đình bằng bạo lực.”

Word by Word

• {'draupadī uvāca': 'Draupadī said', 'svayaṃvara': 'a princess’s marriage-choice ceremony', 'nṛpa': 'king, ruler', 'dṛṣṭā': 'seen', 'raṅga': 'arena

• public performance ground', 'samāgata': 'assembled, gathered', 'na': 'not', 'dṛṣṭapūrvā': 'previously seen

• seen before', 'anyatra': 'elsewhere', 'adya': 'today, now', 'sabhā': 'royal court, assembly hall', 'gatā': 'gone

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Draupadī
• kings (nṛpāḥ)
• svayaṃvara
• raṅga (arena)
• sabhā (royal court/assembly)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse foregrounds the ethical violation of dragging a woman into a public court against her dignity and consent, contrasting the legitimate public visibility of a svayaṃvara with the illegitimate exposure in a coercive setting—an indictment of adharma within royal power.

What is happening in the narrative?

Draupadī speaks in the Kuru assembly, reminding the court that she had only been publicly seen at her svayaṃvara among assembled kings; otherwise she lived in seclusion. She emphasizes the shock and impropriety of her being made to enter the sabhā now, under compulsion.