Shloka 41
Gautama–Śakra Saṃvāda: Karma, Loka-bheda, and the Restoration of the Elephant
धृतराष्ट उवाच ये राजानो राजसूयाभिषिक्ता धर्मात्मानो रक्षितार: प्रजानाम् । ये चाश्वमेधावभथे प्लुतांगा- स्तेषां लोका धृतराष्ट्रो न तत्र
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca | ye rājāno rājasūyābhiṣiktā dharmātmāno rakṣitāraḥ prajānām | ye cāśvamedhāvabhṛthe plutāṅgās teṣāṃ lokā dhṛtarāṣṭro na tatra ||
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “Those kings who have been consecrated in the Rājasūya, who are righteous in spirit and protectors of their subjects, and those whose limbs are drenched at the concluding bath (avabhṛtha) of the Aśvamedha—such men attain the worlds of Prajāpati. Dhṛtarāṣṭra will not go there.”
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links royal dharma—protecting subjects and upholding righteousness—with the highest ritual merits (Rājasūya and Aśvamedha), implying that ethical kingship and sanctioned sacrifice lead to exalted posthumous realms; Dhṛtarāṣṭra laments that such a destiny is not his.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra addresses a sage, reflecting on the heavenly attainments of truly righteous, ritually accomplished kings, and expresses his own exclusion from those Prajāpati-worlds—an admission of moral shortfall and its consequences.