Shloka 21
धृतराष्ट्रस्य वनप्रस्थानानुज्ञा | Permission for Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Forest-Retirement
“सज्जनो! युधिष्ठिरके राज्यमें मुझे बड़ा सुख मिला है। मैं समझता हूँ कि दुर्योधनके राज्यसे भी बढ़कर सुख मुझे प्राप्त हुआ है”
sajjanāḥ! yudhiṣṭhirasya rājye mama mahā-sukhaṃ labdham. manye duryodhanasya rājyaṃ api atikrāmya sukhaṃ mayā prāptam iti.
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: “O noble ones! In Yudhiṣṭhira’s reign I obtained great happiness. I consider that I have gained a happiness even greater than what would have come under Duryodhana’s rule.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
True happiness is linked to dharmic governance and the moral quality of a ruler’s reign; well-being under a righteous king is portrayed as superior to any prosperity imagined under an unrighteous rule.
The narrator Vaiśaṃpāyana addresses the audience and contrasts the experience of happiness under Yudhiṣṭhira’s reign with what might have been under Duryodhana, emphasizing the superior contentment found in Yudhiṣṭhira’s rule.