Shloka 28
उद्योगपर्व — अध्याय २५: संजयदूतवाक्यम्
Sañjaya’s Envoy-Speech on Peace
जानासि त्वं क्लेशमस्मासु वृत्तं त्वां पूजयन् संजयाहं क्षमेयम् | यच्चास्माकं कौरवैर्भूतपूर्व या नो वृत्तिर्धार्तराष्ट्र तदा5डसीत्
jānāsi tvaṃ kleśam asmāsu vṛttaṃ tvāṃ pūjayan saṃjaya ahaṃ kṣameyam | yac cāsmākaṃ kauravair bhūtapūrvaṃ yā no vṛttir dhārtarāṣṭra tadā āsīt, saṃjaya |
Sañjaya said: “You know well the suffering that has befallen us. Yet, honoring you, O Sañjaya, I could forgive all their offenses. And you also know how the Kauravas—Duryodhana and his party—behaved toward us in former times, and how our own conduct toward the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra was then.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights an ethical tension central to the Mahābhārata: even when one remembers severe past injuries, respect for a worthy person and commitment to restraint can make forgiveness possible—yet the memory of injustice remains morally relevant in judging the conflict.
Sañjaya speaks while recalling earlier hardships caused by the Kauravas. He tells Sañjaya that these sufferings are well known, and that despite them he could pardon the offenders out of respect; he also points to the known history of how the Kauravas treated them and how they, in turn, behaved toward Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s sons.