Shloka 19

धृतराष्ट्रस्य युधिष्ठिरं प्रति व्यवहार-रक्षा-नियमनोपदेशः | Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Instruction on Administration, Punishment, and Daily Governance

Devanagari script

कष्टात्‌ कष्टतरं यान्तु सर्वे दुर्योधनादय:

Transliteration

kaṣṭāt kaṣṭataraṁ yāntu sarve duryodhanādayaḥ

Translation

Vaiśampāyana sprach: „Mögen sie alle – beginnend mit Duryodhana – von Not in ein noch härteres Geschick hinübergehen.“ Die Zeile trägt ein moralisches Urteil über jene, die den Krieg aus Hochmut und Unrecht vorantrieben, und deutet an, dass die Folgen des Adharma nicht schwinden, sondern sich verschärfen.

Word by Word

कष्टात्from hardship

कष्टतरम्more difficult (thing/state)

यान्तुmay (they) go/attain

सर्वेall

दुर्योधनादयःDuryodhana and others

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Duryodhana

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Adharma does not end in a single suffering; it tends to compound into greater misery. The verse frames the fate of Duryodhana’s party as an ethical consequence—wrong choices in life lead to escalating hardship.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Vaiśampāyana’s narration of the Ashramavāsika Parva, this statement functions as a condemnatory assessment of Duryodhana and his followers, indicating that their end is not merely tragic but morally charged—moving from suffering to still worse suffering as the aftermath of their deeds.