अस्मद्विजयकामानां सुहृदाम् उपकारिणाम् ॥
गन्तास्मि कथम् आनृण्यं गतानां यमसादनम् ॥
ये मदर्थं परीप्सन्ति वसुधां वसुधाधिपाः ॥
ते हित्वा वसुधैश्वर्यं वसुधाम् अधिशेरते ॥
सो ऽहं कापुरुषः कृत्वा मित्राणां क्षयम् ईदृशम् ॥
नाश्वमेधसहस्रेण पातुम् आत्मानम् उत्सहे ॥
asmadvijayakāmānāṃ suhṛdām upakāriṇām ||
gantāsmi katham ānṛṇyaṃ gatānāṃ yamasādanam ||
ye madarthaṃ parīpsanti vasudhāṃ vasudhādhipāḥ ||
te hitvā vasudhaiśvaryaṃ vasudhām adhiśerate ||
so 'haṃ kāpuruṣaḥ kṛtvā mitrāṇāṃ kṣayam īdṛśam ||
nāśvamedhasahasreṇa pātum ātmānam utsahe ||
'How shall I free myself from my debt to my friends and benefactors, who wished for our victory and have gone to the abode of Yama? Those lords of the earth who sought the earth for my sake now lie upon the bare earth, having relinquished their earthly sovereignty. Here I, a coward, having wrought such destruction of friends, shall not be able to purify myself even with a thousand ashvamedhas.'
7c9ca967301f · published Jul 19, 2026, 4:31:38 PM UTC
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Duryodhana calls himself a coward, a debtor who can never repay his fallen friends: a bitter glimmer of conscience. It is telling that "vasudhām adhiśerate" — those who sought the earth now lie upon the bare earth — the bitter irony of greed. The verse teaches that guilt for lives spent on an unjust cause cannot be washed away by any sacrifice; and one who sent his friends to their deaths for his own gain carries a debt that not even a thousand rites can redeem, for its price is the blood of those who trusted him.