Shloka 3
धृतराष्ट्रविलापः — Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Lament and Inquiry (Śalya-parva, Adhyāya 2)
धघतयाट्र उवाच अहो बत महददु:खं यदहं पाण्डवान् रणे । क्षेमिणश्षाव्ययांश्वैव त्वत्त: सूत शुणोमि वै,धृतराष्ट्रने कहा--सूत! मेरे लिये महान् दुःखकी बात है कि मैं तुम्हारे मुखसे रणभूमिमें पाण्डवोंको सकुशल और विनाशरहित सुन रहा हूँ
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca | aho bata mahad duḥkhaṃ yad ahaṃ pāṇḍavān raṇe | kṣemiṇaś cāvyayāṃś caiva tvattaḥ sūta śṛṇomi vai ||
Dhṛtarāṣṭra sprach: „Weh mir, o Sūta! Es ist ein großer Schmerz für mich, aus deinem Mund zu hören, dass die Pāṇḍavas auf dem Schlachtfeld wohlbehalten und ungebrochen sind.“
धघतयाट्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how personal attachment and partisan desire can distort moral perception: Dhṛtarāṣṭra experiences others’ safety as sorrow because it threatens his own side’s ambitions. It implicitly critiques a ruler’s failure to uphold impartial dharma when kinship and desire dominate judgment.
In the Shalya Parva narration, Dhṛtarāṣṭra listens to Sañjaya’s report about the war. Hearing that the Pāṇḍavas remain safe and unharmed on the battlefield, he reacts with grief, revealing his continuing alignment with the Kaurava cause and his anxiety about the war’s outcome.