Devanagari
यदा सभायां कुरुदेवदेव्या:
केशाभिमर्शं सुतकर्म गर्ह्यम् ।
न वारयामास नृप: स्नुषाया:
स्वास्रैर्हरन्त्या: कुचकुङ्कुमानि ॥ ७ ॥
Verse text
yadā sabhāyāṁ kuru-deva-devyāḥ
keśābhimarśaṁ suta-karma garhyam
na vārayām āsa nṛpaḥ snuṣāyāḥ
svāsrair harantyāḥ kuca-kuṅkumāni
Synonyms
yadā
—
when
;
sabhāyām
—
the assembly
;
kuru
—
deva — devyāḥ — of Draupadī, the wife of godly Yudhiṣṭhira
;
keśa
—
abhimarśam — insult by grabbing her hair
;
suta
—
karma — action taken by his son
;
garhyam
—
which was abominable
;
na
—
did not
;
vārayām āsa
—
forbid
;
nṛpaḥ
—
the King
;
snuṣāyāḥ
—
of his nephew’s wife
;
svāsraiḥ
—
by her tears
;
harantyāḥ
—
of she who was washing
;
kuca
—
kuṅkumāni — red dust on her breast .
Translation
The King did not forbid his son Duḥśāsana’s abominable action of grabbing the hair of Draupadī, the wife of the godly King Yudhiṣṭhira, even though her tears washed the red dust on her breast.
Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)
Dhṛtarāṣṭra did not forbid his son’s despicable action of dragging the wife of Yudhiṣṭhira by the hair into the assembly, while Draupadī wept, washing away the kuṁkuṁa on her breasts with tears.
Kuru-deva-devyāḥ refers to Draupadī. She washed away the kuṁkuma on her breasts by her tears. Also indicated is that she would wash away the kuṁkuṁa on the breasts of the enemy’s wives, with their tears, when she would have their husbands killed. This is the fourth type of atiśayokti (hyperbole).