Shloka 11
परंतु आज पुण्यहीन मैं अपने पुत्रोंके घरको उत्साहशून्य एवं आर्तनादसे गूँजता हुआ देख रहा हूँ ।। विविंशतेर्दुर्मुखस्य चित्रसेनविकर्णयो: । अन््येषां च सुतानां मे न तथा श्रूयते ध्वनि:,विविंशति, दुर्मुख, चित्रसेन, विकर्ण तथा मेरे अन्य पुत्रोंके घरोंमें अब पूर्ववत् आनन्दित ध्वनि नहीं सुनी जाती है
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca | parantu adya puṇyahīno'haṃ svaputrāṇāṃ gṛhān utsāhaśūnyān ārtanādasaṃnādān paśyāmi | viviṃśater durmukhasya citrasenavikarṇayoḥ anyeṣāṃ ca me sutānāṃ na tathā śrūyate dhvaniḥ |
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “But today, bereft of merit, I see the houses of my sons drained of spirit and echoing with cries of distress. In the dwellings of Viviṃśati, Durmukha, Citraseṇa, Vikarṇa, and my other sons, the former sounds of joy are no longer heard.”
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the ethical and karmic cost of adharma-driven conflict: when a ruler’s attachment and partiality enable wrongdoing, the apparent prosperity of a lineage collapses into sorrow, and even the ‘sound’ of a household changes from celebration to lamentation.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra reflects on the war’s devastation. He notes that the homes of his sons—naming Viviṃśati, Durmukha, Citraseṇa, and Vikarṇa among others—no longer resound with festive joy but with cries of anguish, implying heavy losses and a turning of fortune against the Kauravas.