Shloka 43
शल्यपर्वणि प्रथमाध्यायः — Karṇa-vadha-anantaraṃ Śalya-niyogaḥ, Saṃjayasya Dhṛtarāṣṭra-nivedanam
कृच्छेण तु ततो राजा धृतराष्ट्री महीपति:
kṛcchreṇa tu tato rājā dhṛtarāṣṭrī mahīpatiḥ
Then, with great difficulty, the king—Dhṛtarāṣṭra, lord of the earth—managed to proceed and to speak, showing how heavily the war and its consequences weighed upon him.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The line underscores how the burdens of adharma and war manifest as inner strain: even a powerful ruler is brought to act or speak only 'with difficulty,' suggesting the moral and emotional weight of consequences.
Vaiśampāyana narrates that Dhṛtarāṣṭra, the Kuru king, is in a state of hardship and can proceed only with difficulty—setting a tone of distress as the events of the Shalya Parva unfold.