Shloka 19
धृतराष्ट्रस्य युधिष्ठिरं प्रति व्यवहार-रक्षा-नियमनोपदेशः | Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Instruction on Administration, Punishment, and Daily Governance
कष्टात् कष्टतरं यान्तु सर्वे दुर्योधनादय:
kaṣṭāt kaṣṭataraṁ yāntu sarve duryodhanādayaḥ
Vaiśampāyana said: “May all of them—beginning with Duryodhana—pass from hardship into an even harsher fate.” The line conveys a moral judgment on those who drove the war through pride and wrongdoing, implying that the consequences of adharma intensify rather than diminish.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
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.
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.