Shloka 12
धृतराष्ट्रस्य क्षमायाचनं तथा युधिष्ठिरे न्यासदानम् / Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Request for Forgiveness and the Entrustment to Yudhiṣṭhira
तन्निर्याणे दु:खित: पौरवर्गो गजाह्वये चैव बभूव राजन् | यथा पूर्व गच्छतां पाण्डवानां द्यूते राजन् कौरवाणां सभाया:,राजन! जैसे पूर्वकालमें द्यूतक्रीड़ाके समय कौरवसभासे निकलकर वनवासके लिये पाण्डवोंके प्रस्थान करनेपर हस्तिनापुरके नागरिकोंका समुदाय दु:खमें डूब गया था, उसी प्रकार धृतराष्ट्रके जाते समय भी समस्त पुरवासी शोकसे संतप्त हो उठे थे
tanniryāṇe duḥkhitaḥ pauravargo gajāhvaye caiva babhūva rājan | yathā pūrva gacchatāṃ pāṇḍavānāṃ dyūte rājan kauravāṇāṃ sabhāyāḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: O King, when he set out, the entire body of citizens in Gajāhvaya (Hastināpura) was plunged into grief. Just as in former times—when, after the dice-game, the Pāṇḍavas departed from the Kauravas’ assembly for exile—the people of the city were overwhelmed by sorrow, so too were all the townsfolk tormented by lamentation at Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s departure.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights that a kingdom’s moral crises and reversals—especially those rooted in wrongdoing like the dice-game—leave lasting wounds not only on rulers and heroes but also on ordinary citizens. Collective grief becomes a social echo of ethical failure and impermanence in political fortune.
As Dhṛtarāṣṭra departs (for the forest life described in the Āśramavāsika narrative), the people of Hastināpura mourn intensely. The narrator compares this scene to the earlier moment when the Pāṇḍavas left the Kaurava assembly after the dice-game to begin exile, when the city likewise sank into sorrow.