Shloka 4

Chapter 59: Baladeva’s Censure, Keśava’s Restraint, and Yudhiṣṭhira’s Moral Accounting

Devanagari script

गौर्गौरिति पुरा मन्द द्रौपदीमेकवाससम्‌ | यत्‌ सभायां हसन्नस्मांस्तदा वदसि दुर्मते

Transliteration

gaur gaur iti purā manda draupadīm ekavāsasam | yat sabhāyāṁ hasann asmāṁs tadā vadasi durmate ||

Translation

三阇耶说：“愚人啊！从前在王廷大会上，你曾嘲笑我们，又侮辱只披一衣而立的黑公主德劳帕蒂，她哭喊着‘牛！牛！’；如今开口的，正是你那残忍而乖僻的心。”

Word by Word

• गौः: a cow
• गौः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: गो
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• गौः: a cow
• गौः: Karta
• Type: Noun
• Root: गो
• Form: Feminine, Nominative, Singular

• इति: thus/so (quotative)
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: इति

• पुरा: formerly/once
• पुरा: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: पुरा

• मन्द: O dull one
• Type: Adjective
• Root: मन्द
• Form: Masculine, Vocative, Singular

• द्रौपदीम्: Draupadi
• द्रौपदीम्: Karma
• Type: Noun
• Root: द्रौपदी
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

• एकवाससम्: wearing a single garment
• Type: Adjective
• Root: एक-वासस्
• Form: Feminine, Accusative, Singular

• यत्: which/that (fact that)
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: यद्
• Form: Neuter, Accusative, Singular

• सभायाम्: in the assembly hall
• सभायाम्: Adhikarana
• Type: Noun
• Root: सभा
• Form: Feminine, Locative, Singular

• हसन्: laughing
• Type: Verb
• Root: हस्
• Form: शतृ (present active participle), Masculine, Nominative, Singular

• अस्मान्: us
• अस्मान्: Karma
• Type: Pronoun
• Root: अस्मद्
• Form: Accusative, Plural

• तदा: then/at that time
• तदा: Adhikarana
• Type: Indeclinable
• Root: तदा

• वदसि: you say/speak
• Type: Verb
• Root: वद्
• Form: Present, Lat, Second, Singular, Parasmaipada

• दुर्मते: O evil-minded one
• Type: Noun
• Root: दुर्मति
• Form: Feminine, Vocative, Singular

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sanjaya
• Draupadi
• sabhā (royal assembly hall)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Mocking the vulnerable and violating dignity in public is a grave adharma; such cruelty reveals a corrupted mind and becomes a moral cause for later downfall and suffering.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sanjaya recalls an earlier incident in the royal assembly where Draupadī was insulted and mocked; he uses that memory to condemn the addressee’s character, linking present speech and fate to past wrongdoing.