Shloka 263
धर्मराजस्य चिन्ता, भीमसेनप्रेषणम्, द्रोणानीकप्रवेशप्रयत्नः
Yudhiṣṭhira’s Anxiety and the Dispatch of Bhīma; Attempted Breakthrough into Droṇa’s Formation
विलयं समनुप्राप्ता तच्च राजा न बुध्यते । “एकमात्र दुर्योधनके अपराधसे राजा धृतराष्ट्र तथा उनकी सम्पूर्ण सेनाएँ भारी विपत्तिमें फँस गयीं। सारा क्षत्रियसममाज और सम्पूर्ण पृथ्वी विनाशके द्वारपर जा पहुँची है। इस बातको राजा धृतराष्ट्र नहीं समझ रहे हैं!
vilayaṃ samanuprāptā tacca rājā na budhyate |
Sañjaya said: “Destruction has already drawn near, yet the king does not perceive it. Because of the single fault centered on Duryodhana, King Dhṛtarāṣṭra and all his forces have fallen into a grievous calamity; the entire community of kṣatriyas and the whole earth stand at the threshold of ruin—still Dhṛtarāṣṭra fails to understand.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
A ruler’s refusal to recognize impending ruin—especially when it arises from indulgence of a single wrongful agent—turns private fault into public catastrophe. Ethical discernment (budhi) and timely restraint are presented as essential to kingship; ignoring adharma accelerates collective destruction.
Sañjaya reports to Dhṛtarāṣṭra that annihilation is imminent in the Kurukṣetra war. He underscores that the calamity engulfing the Kauravas and the wider kṣatriya world stems from Duryodhana’s wrongdoing, yet Dhṛtarāṣṭra remains unable or unwilling to grasp the reality.