Shloka 85
न दु:खं राज्यहरणं न च द्यूते पराजय: । प्रत्राजनं तु पुत्राणां न मे तद् दुःखकारणम्,'राज्य छिन गया, यह कोई दुःखका कारण नहीं है। जूएमें हार जाना भी दुःखका कारण नहीं है। मेरे पुत्रोंको वनमें भेज दिया गया, इससे भी मुझे दुःख नहीं हुआ है; परंतु मेरी श्रेष्ठ सुन्दरी वधूको एक वस्त्र धारण किये जो सभामें जाना पड़ा और दुष्टोंकी कठोर बातें सुननी पड़ीं, इससे बढ़कर महान् दुःखकी बात और क्या हो सकती है?
na duḥkhaṁ rājyaharaṇaṁ na ca dyūte parājayaḥ | pratrājanaṁ tu putrāṇāṁ na me tad duḥkhakāraṇam ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “The loss of the kingdom is not my sorrow, nor is defeat at dice. Even the driving of my sons into exile is not, for me, the cause of grief. But that my noble and beautiful daughter-in-law was forced to enter the royal assembly wearing only a single garment and to endure the harsh words of the wicked—what greater sorrow than this could there be?”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse ranks moral injury above material loss: losing power, wealth, or even suffering exile is bearable, but the public dishonoring of a virtuous woman in the assembly is portrayed as the deepest grief and a grave breach of dharma.
In the Udyoga Parva’s recollection of the causes leading to war, the speaker contrasts earlier calamities (loss of kingdom, defeat at dice, exile of the sons) with the most painful event: the daughter-in-law’s humiliation in the sabhā, which becomes a decisive ethical outrage driving the conflict.