Shloka 30
उद्योगपर्व — अध्याय ८१: कृष्णस्य दूतप्रयाणम्
Udyoga Parva, Chapter 81: Krishna Sets Out as Envoy
नन्वहं कृष्ण भीष्मस्य धृतराष्ट्रस्य चो भयो: । सस््नुषा भवामि धर्मेण साहं दासीकृता बलात्
nanv ahaṃ kṛṣṇa bhīṣmasya dhṛtarāṣṭrasya ca ubhayoḥ | snuṣā bhavāmi dharmeṇa sāhaṃ dāsīkṛtā balāt, śrīkṛṣṇa |
“Yet, O Kṛṣṇa—am I not, by the rule of dharma, the daughter-in-law of both Bhīṣma and Dhṛtarāṣṭra? Even so, in their very presence I was forcibly reduced to the status of a slave. O Śrī Kṛṣṇa!”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a dharmic contradiction: a woman who is legally and morally part of the royal family (a protected daughter-in-law) is nevertheless subjected to coercion and humiliation. It underscores that social rank and formal relationships are meaningless if elders and rulers fail to uphold dharma in practice.
A woman addresses Kṛṣṇa, lamenting that although she is, by dharma, the daughter-in-law of Bhīṣma and Dhṛtarāṣṭra, she was still forcibly treated as a slave in their presence—an accusation of moral failure and complicity by the Kuru elders.