Shloka 18
Nahūṣa’s Pride, the Ṛṣi-Borne Palanquin, and the Search for Indra (नहुष-इन्द्राणी-प्रकरणम्)
मयि क्ुद्धे जगन्न स्यान्मयि सर्व प्रतिष्ठितम् । देवदानवगन्धर्वा: किन्नरोरगराक्षसा:
mayi kruddhe jagan na syān mayi sarvaṁ pratiṣṭhitam | devadānavagandharvāḥ kinnaroragarākṣasāḥ ||
那胡沙傲然宣称：“若我震怒，此世界将归于灭亡；万有皆以我为依止。噢，笑容清净者！若我怒火充盈，纵使诸天、阿修罗、乾闼婆、紧那罗、那伽与罗刹，并一切世界，也不能与我抗衡。我以双目所视之人，必夺其‘提阇’——其光辉威德。”
नहुष उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the moral danger of unchecked wrath and self-glorifying pride. By claiming the cosmos depends on him, Nahusha exemplifies adharma as ego-inflation: it destabilizes judgment and threatens social and cosmic order rather than protecting it.
Nahusha is speaking boastfully, asserting that if he becomes angry the world would be destroyed and that no class of beings—gods, demons, Gandharvas, Kinnaras, Nāgas, or Rākṣasas—could oppose him. The statement functions as intimidation and self-assertion within the unfolding tensions of the Udyoga Parva.