Shloka 22
धृतराष्ट्रस्य युधिष्ठिरं प्रति व्यवहार-रक्षा-नियमनोपदेशः | Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Instruction on Administration, Punishment, and Daily Governance
कृष्णाजिनोपसंवीतो हृताभरणभूषण: । सार्थ पाज्चालपुत्र्या त्वं राजानमुपजग्मिवान्
kṛṣṇājinopasaṃvīto hṛtābharaṇabhūṣaṇaḥ | sārtha pāñcālaputryā tvaṃ rājānam upajagmivān ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “Clad in a black antelope-skin and stripped of his ornaments and finery, you went to the king together with the daughter of the Pāñcālas—signaling a deliberate embrace of austerity and a turning away from royal display toward the discipline of renunciation.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical shift from worldly status to disciplined simplicity: removing ornaments and wearing an ascetic skin symbolizes restraint, humility, and readiness to follow dharma through renunciation rather than through display of power or wealth.
The speaker describes someone approaching the king in the company of Draupadī, no longer adorned as a royal figure but dressed in ascetic garb, indicating a transition into an āśrama-like life and a solemn, duty-bound encounter rather than a courtly one.