एतत् समीक्ष्यात्मनि चावमानं; नियम्य मन्युं बलवान् स मानी ॥
राजानुगः संसदि कौरवाणां; विनिष्क्रमन् वाक्यम् उवाच भीमः ॥
अहं दुर्योधनं हन्ता कर्णं हन्ता धनंजयः ॥
शकुनिं चाक्षकितवं सहदेवो हनिष्यति ॥
इदं च भूयो वक्ष्यामि सभामध्ये बृहद् वचः ॥
सत्यं देवाः करिष्यन्ति यन् नो युद्धं भविष्यति ॥
सुयोधनम् इमं पापं हन्तास्मि गदया युधि ॥
शिरः पादेन चास्याहम् अधिष्ठास्यामि भूतले ॥
वाक्यशूरस्य चैवास्य परुषस्य दुरात्मनः ॥
दुःशासनस्य रुधिरं पातास्मि मृगराड् इव ॥
etat samīkṣyātmani cāvamānaṃ; niyamya manyuṃ balavān sa mānī ||
rājānugaḥ saṃsadi kauravāṇāṃ; viniṣkraman vākyam uvāca bhīmaḥ ||
ahaṃ duryodhanaṃ hantā karṇaṃ hantā dhanaṃjayaḥ ||
śakuniṃ cākṣakitavaṃ sahadevo haniṣyati ||
idaṃ ca bhūyo vakṣyāmi sabhāmadhye bṛhad vacaḥ ||
satyaṃ devāḥ kariṣyanti yan no yuddhaṃ bhaviṣyati ||
suyodhanam imaṃ pāpaṃ hantāsmi gadayā yudhi ||
śiraḥ pādena cāsyāham adhiṣṭhāsyāmi bhūtale ||
vākyaśūrasya caivāsya paruṣasya durātmanaḥ ||
duḥśāsanasya rudhiraṃ pātāsmi mṛgarāḍ iva ||
Seeing this humiliation to himself and curbing his fury, that strong and proud Bhima, following the king and going out from the assembly of the Kauravas, spoke this word: 'I am the slayer of Duryodhana, Dhananjaya is the slayer of Karna, and Sahadeva will slay Shakuni, the cheat at dice. And this too I will say, a great word amid the assembly: the gods will make true that there will be a battle between us. This sinful Suyodhana I will slay with a mace in battle and press his head to the ground with my foot. And the blood of this Duhshasana — bold in words, coarse, and wicked-hearted — I will drink, like a lion.'
8cf1800a32fe · published Jul 16, 2026, 4:12:36 PM UTC
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Bhima's vow is no empty threat but a distribution of righteous retribution: each guilty man is assigned his own executioner — Duryodhana, Karna, Shakuni. Thus the reckoning of dharma is not blind but proportioned and named. The invocation 'the gods will make true' raises the oath from personal vengeance to the fulfillment of a higher law: the coming battle is not willfulness but the accomplishment of justice, witnessed by the heavens. It is significant that the vow is given not in a fit of rage but after 'curbing his fury': it is colder than anger, and therefore more unshakeable. The verse teaches that righteous retribution names and weighs rather than strikes indiscriminately; that an oath entrusted to the judgment of the gods ceases to be revenge and becomes an instrument of dharma; and that a word spoken in restraint is firmer than any shout.