Shloka 45
भीष्मरथाभिमुख्यं — Arjuna’s advance with Śikhaṇḍin; Duḥśāsana’s interception
राजन्! तदनन्तर कौरवोंका पाण्डवोंके साथ अत्यन्त भयंकर युद्ध होने लगा, जो कपटपूर्ण द्यूतके कारण सम्भव हुआ था और जिसमें बड़ी भारी मारकाट मच रही थी ।। यत् पुरा न निगृह्नासि वार्यमाणो महात्मभि: । वैचित्रवीर्य तस्येद॑ फलं पश्य सुदारुणम्,विचित्रवीर्यनन्दन महाराज धृतराष्ट्र! पूर्वकालमें महात्मा पुरुषोंके मना करनेपर भी जो आपने उनकी बातें नहीं मानीं, उसीका यह भयंकर फल प्राप्त हुआ है, इसे देखिये
rājan! tadanantaraṁ kauravāṇāṁ pāṇḍavaiḥ sārdham atyanta-bhayaṅkaraṁ yuddhaṁ babhūva, yat kapaṭa-pūrva-dyūta-kāraṇāt sambhūtaṁ mahā-vadha-prāyaṁ ca. yat pūrā na nigṛhṇāsi vāryamāṇo mahātmabhiḥ, vaicitravīrya—tasyedaṁ phalaṁ paśya sudāruṇam. vicitravīrya-nandana mahārāja dhṛtarāṣṭra! pūrva-kāle mahātmabhiḥ pratiṣiddho ’pi yad vacanaṁ nānvaśṛṇoḥ, tasyaivāyaṁ ghoraḥ phala-prāptiḥ—paśya.
Sanjaya said: “O King, thereafter a most dreadful battle broke out between the Kauravas and the Pandavas—an outcome made possible by the deceitful game of dice—and it was filled with terrible slaughter. What you once failed to restrain, though urged by noble-minded elders, has now ripened into its harshest consequence. O Dhritarashtra, son of Vichitravirya: behold this exceedingly cruel fruit of your earlier refusal to heed the counsel of the great.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Ignoring righteous counsel and failing to restrain wrongdoing—especially by those in power—inevitably bears a harsh fruit. The verse frames the war’s horror as the moral consequence of earlier choices rooted in deceit (the dice game) and negligence in governance.
Sanjaya reports to Dhritarashtra that a terrifying battle has erupted between the Kauravas and Pandavas. He directly links this catastrophe to the deceitful dice match and reminds Dhritarashtra that he previously refused to heed the warnings of noble elders, and is now witnessing the dreadful result.