अयं धत्ते वेणुर् इवात्मघाती; फलं राजा धृतराष्ट्रस्य पुत्रः ॥
द्यूतं हि वैराय महाभयाय; पक्वो न बुध्यत्य् अयम् अन्तकाले ॥
नारुंतुदः स्यान् न नृशंसवादी; न हीनतः परम् अभ्याददीत ॥
ययास्य वाचा पर उद्विजेत; न तां वदेद् रुशतीं पापलोक्याम् ॥
ayaṃ dhatte veṇur ivātmaghātī; phalaṃ rājā dhṛtarāṣṭrasya putraḥ ||
dyūtaṃ hi vairāya mahābhayāya; pakvo na budhyaty ayam antakāle ||
nāruṃtudaḥ syān na nṛśaṃsavādī; na hīnataḥ param abhyādadīta ||
yayāsya vācā para udvijeta; na tāṃ vaded ruśatīṃ pāpalokyām ||
[Vidura:] "This king, the son of Dhritarashtra, bears [his own] fruit like a self-destroying bamboo [that dies upon bearing fruit]; for gambling leads to enmity, to great terror; ripened [for ruin], he does not understand [this] in [his] hour of death. One should not be stinging, nor cruel-tongued; one must not belittle another through baseness; with speech at which another shudders -- scorching speech, [leading] to sinful worlds -- let no one speak."
628446e9b6e2 · published Jul 16, 2026, 4:03:37 PM UTC
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The image of the bamboo is exact: it dies after bearing fruit -- so Duryodhana, by his "fruit" (his winnings), is preparing his own destruction. Telling is the fact that his very triumph is the seed of his end: what seems success is the beginning of ruin. And the counsel about speech runs deep: do not sting, do not utter a scorching word at which another shudders. The verse teaches that a wound of words is heavier than many a bodily wound: scorching speech casts the speaker down into "sinful worlds." Duryodhana not only robs but also reviles -- and thereby multiplies his own perdition. One who wounds with words sows enmity that will return to him; and a tongue that spews humiliation digs a pit first of all for the one who sows it.