नामर्षयत् ततस् तेषाम् अवहासम् अमर्षणः ॥
आकारं रक्षमाणस् तु न स तान् समुदैक्षत ॥
पुनर् वसनम् उत्क्षिप्य प्रतरिष्यन्न् इव स्थलम् ॥
आरुरोह ततः सर्वे जहसुस् ते पुनर् जनाः ॥
द्वारं च विवृताकारं ललाटेन समाहनत् ॥
संवृतं चेति मन्वानो द्वारदेशाद् उपारमत् ॥
nāmarṣayat tatas teṣām avahāsam amarṣaṇaḥ ||
ākāraṃ rakṣamāṇas tu na sa tān samudaikṣata ||
punar vasanam utkṣipya pratariṣyann iva sthalam ||
āruroha tataḥ sarve jahasus te punar janāḥ ||
dvāraṃ ca vivṛtākāraṃ lalāṭena samāhanat ||
saṃvṛtaṃ ceti manvāno dvāradeśād upāramat ||
The impatient one then could not bear their mockery, but, guarding his outward composure, did not look at them. Again lifting his garment as though about to cross water, he took [dry floor] for ground and tried to climb it; then all those people laughed again. And he struck his forehead against a door that appeared open, thinking it closed; and at another, which appeared closed, he stepped back from the threshold.
50b3c1c3906d · published Jul 16, 2026, 3:49:22 PM UTC
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The chain of missteps continues: what is open he takes for closed, what is closed for open -- everything turned inside out. It is telling that the illusion of the hall is a parable of the illusion of his mind: Duryodhana, unable to distinguish things, distinguishes still less between good and evil, friend and foe, benefit and ruin. The verse teaches that outward confusion is only a reflection of the inward: one blind in soul stumbles in body too. And by "guarding his outward bearing" he only stores up grievance within: pride will not let him admit either his blunder or the laughter at him, and driven inward, it only intensifies. Thus blindness and hidden malice together prepare the fall of one who can neither see clearly nor laugh humbly at himself.