Mahabharata 10: A Leader Led To Garden Path Poem by Aniruddha Pathak

Alien-led if a leader tails,
Deluded as to set his sails,
Those led that trail his toe,
How'd they his feet follow?
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Here is the transliteration of the original verse:

para-neyah agraņīh yasya sah mārgān prati muhyati |
panthānam anu-gacċheyuh katham tasya pada-ānugāh ||sabhā 55-4 ||

Duryodhan, an evil mind, seemed to possess a sharp intellect. Sure, a crooked, scheming mind has to have one! He had the knack to convince his father who seemed to be always undecided, led by others. Sometimes one wonders if Gandhari should have blind-folded herself at all or kept her eyes and ears open to guide her husband, a man blind of sight, weak of ears, and weaker still of intellect.

A leader with own mind must lead. Here, Duryodhan is trying to convince his father, the king, that he should take his own decisions, and not follow the advice of Vidur, his minister.