तम् अधर्मम् अपाक्रष्टुम् आरब्धः सहितस् त्वया ॥
सानुबन्धान् हनिष्यामि क्षुद्रान् राज्यहरान् अहम् ॥
त्वया तु कथितं पूर्वं युद्धायाभ्यागता वयम् ॥
घटामश् च यथाशक्ति त्वं तु नो ऽद्य जुगुप्ससे ॥
स्वधर्मं नेच्छसे ज्ञातुं मिथ्या वचनम् एव ते ॥
भयार्दितानाम् अस्माकं वाचा मर्माणि कृन्तसि ॥
tam adharmam apākraṣṭum ārabdhaḥ sahitas tvayā ||
sānubandhān haniṣyāmi kṣudrān rājyaharān aham ||
tvayā tu kathitaṃ pūrvaṃ yuddhāyābhyāgatā vayam ||
ghaṭāmaś ca yathāśakti tvaṃ tu no 'dya jugupsase ||
svadharmaṃ necchase jñātuṃ mithyā vacanam eva te ||
bhayārditānām asmākaṃ vācā marmāṇi kṛntasi ||
"Having begun, together with you, to drive away that unrighteousness, I with my kin shall slay the base seizers of the kingdom. It was you yourself who once said, 'We have come for battle,' and we strive as far as our strength allows; yet you now reproach us. You do not wish to know your own dharma; your word alone is false; upon us, tormented by fear, you cut our vitals with words."
0a2ceba7c8da · published Jul 19, 2026, 5:08:17 PM UTC
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Bhima charges him with inconsistency: Arjuna himself called them to battle, and now he blames those who fight. It is telling that his reproach cuts both ways -- he defends the rightness of the war, yet is not himself free of bitterness. The verse teaches that one who has set a course has no right, midway, to condemn his comrades for the very thing he himself urged; and a leader's inconsistency wounds his followers more than enemy arrows, for it undermines the very faith on which their steadfastness rests.