Shloka 28
कर्णवधोत्तरं शल्य-दुर्योधनसंवादः
Aftermath of Karṇa’s Fall: Śalya’s Address to Duryodhana
अस्मान् नैवं पुत्रदारैर्विहीनान् सुखाद् भ्रष्टान् राज्यनाशाच्च भूय:
asmān naivaṁ putradārair vihīnān sukhād bhraṣṭān rājyānāśāc ca bhūyaḥ
Sañjaya said: “May we not again be left in such a state—bereft of sons and wives, fallen away from happiness, and further ruined by the loss of the kingdom.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores how war and political ambition can culminate in layered ruin—loss of family, loss of happiness, and loss of sovereignty—warning that the collapse of dharmic restraint brings repeated suffering.
Sañjaya, reporting the events of the Kurukṣetra war, voices a lamenting fear that ‘we’ (the Kuru side) may again be reduced to a condition of utter deprivation—without family, without joy, and with the kingdom destroyed.