Shloka 15
Drupada’s Instruction to the Purohita for the Kaurava Embassy (द्रुपदोपदेशः दूतप्रेषणम्)
कृपालुषु परिक्लेशान् पाण्डवीयान् प्रकीर्तयन् । वृद्धेषु कुलधर्म च ब्रुवन् पूर्वरनुछितम्
kṛpāluṣu parikleśān pāṇḍavīyān prakīrtayan | vṛddheṣu kuladharmaṃ ca bruvan pūrvaranucitam ||
Drupada sprach, indem er die Leiden schilderte, die die Pāṇḍava erduldet hatten — Männer von mitfühlender Gesinnung —, und an die Ältesten gewandt, redete er auch von der Pflicht der Linie, ganz so, wie es seit alters her geübt worden war. So stellte er die gegenwärtige Krise in den Rahmen überlieferter Normen und berief sich auf die Autorität der Senioren und der Tradition als ethische Grundlage des Handelns.
दुपद उवाच
Educational Q&A
Ethical persuasion should be grounded in compassion for the afflicted and in kuladharma—appealing to elders and ancestral precedent to guide present decisions.
Drupada is speaking in the political-ethical deliberations of the Udyoga Parva, describing the Pāṇḍavas’ sufferings and urging the elders to consider traditional family duty and long-established propriety.