Mahabharata — Stree Parva, Shloka 13
स्त्रीपर्व १: धृतराष्ट्रशोकः संजयाश्वासनं च
Strī Parva 1: Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Lament and Saṃjaya’s Consolation
महामते! मेरा राज्य छिन गया, बन्धु-बान्धव मारे गये और आँखें तो पहलेसे ही नष्ट हो चुकी थीं। अब मैं क्षीण किरणोंवाले सूर्यके समान इस जगतमें प्रकाशित नहीं होऊँगा ।।
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca | mahāmate! me rājyam chinnaṃ gataṃ, bandhu-bāndhavā mārāḥ, cakṣūṃṣi ca pūrvam eva naṣṭāni | adhunāhaṃ kṣīṇa-kiraṇavat sūrya iva loke na prakāśiṣye || na kṛtaṃ suhṛdāṃ vākyaṃ jāmadagnyasya jalpataḥ | nāradasya ca devarṣeḥ kṛṣṇadvaipāyanasya ca ||
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “O wise one! My kingdom has been taken away; my kinsmen and relatives have been slain; and my eyes had already been destroyed long ago. Now I shall not shine in this world—like the sun whose rays have grown faint. I did not heed the counsel of my well-wishers: Paraśurāma, son of Jamadagni, the divine seer Nārada, and Kṛṣṇa Dvaipāyana Vyāsa. Though they spoke for my good, I listened to none.”
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical cost of refusing wise counsel: a ruler who ignores well-wishers and seers invites ruin, and only after irreversible loss does clarity arise as regret.
In the opening of the Strī Parva, Dhṛtarāṣṭra mourns the collapse of his power and family after the war, comparing himself to a dim sun, and confesses that he failed to heed the beneficial warnings of Paraśurāma, Nārada, and Vyāsa.
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