Shloka 17
Udyoga-parva Adhyāya 71 — Kṣatra-dharma Counsel, Public Legitimacy, and Mobilization
न च तानपि दवुष्टात्मा धार्तराष्ट्रोडनुमन्यते । स्वाम्यमात्मनि मत्वासावतो दुःखतरं नु किम्,परंतु दुष्टात्मा दुर्योधन सबपर अपना ही अधिकार मानकर उन पाँच गाँवोंको भी देनेकी बात नहीं स्वीकार कर रहा है। इससे बढ़कर कष्टकी बात और क्या हो सकती है?
na ca tān api duṣṭātmā dhārtarāṣṭro 'numanyate | svāmyam ātmani matvā sa ato duḥkhataraṃ nu kim ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “And that wicked-souled son of Dhṛtarāṣṭra does not consent even to those (villages). Claiming lordship as his own over everything, he refuses to grant even the five villages. What sorrow could be greater than this?”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse condemns possessiveness and unjust claims to sovereignty: when a ruler treats all as his personal property and refuses even a minimal, fair settlement, it becomes a profound ethical failure that makes peace impossible and pushes society toward war.
During the peace efforts before the Kurukṣetra war, Yudhiṣṭhira laments that Duryodhana will not agree even to the modest request of five villages for the Pāṇḍavas, insisting on absolute ownership; Yudhiṣṭhira frames this refusal as the greatest cause of grief and a sign that conflict is becoming inevitable.