Shloka 7
Saṃjaya’s Warning to Dhṛtarāṣṭra: Accountability, Alliance-Shift, and the Pāṇḍava Strategic Edge
पित्रयं राज्यं महाराज कुरवस्ते सजाड्ला: । अथ वीरैर्जितामुर्वीमखिलां प्रत्यपद्यथा:,महाराज! कुरुजांगल देश ही आपका पैतृक राज्य है, किंतु शेष सारी पृथ्वी उन वीर पाण्डवोंने ही जीती है, जिसे आप पा गये हैं
pitryaṁ rājyaṁ mahārāja kuravas te sa-jāḍyāḥ | atha vīrair jitām urvīm akhilāṁ pratyapadyathāḥ ||
Sanjaya said: “O great king, the Kuru realm is indeed your ancestral inheritance; yet the rest of the entire earth was conquered by those heroic Pāṇḍavas. It is that hard-won dominion which you have now come to possess.”
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse contrasts mere hereditary claim with earned sovereignty: the Kuru realm may be ancestral, but wider dominion was secured through the Pāṇḍavas’ valor. Ethically, it implies that enjoying the fruits of others’ effort without honoring their rightful share undermines legitimacy and dharma.
Sañjaya addresses Dhṛtarāṣṭra, reminding him that while Kuru-jāṅgala is his inherited territory, the broader power and acquisitions associated with the kingdom were won by the Pāṇḍavas. The remark functions as a pointed moral-political reminder in the tense pre-war deliberations of the Udyoga Parva.