Shloka 24
कृतं मताक्षेण यथा न साधु साधुप्रवृत्तेन च पाण्डवेन । मया च दुष्पुत्रवशानुगेन तथा कुरूणामयमन्तकाल:,'द्यूतप्रेमी शकुनिने जूआ खेलकर कदापि अच्छा नहीं किया। साधुतामें लगे हुए युधिष्ठिरने भी जो उसे तत्काल नहीं मार डाला, यह भी अच्छा नहीं किया। इसी प्रकार कुपुत्रके वशमें पड़कर मैंने भी कोई अच्छा काम नहीं किया है। इसीका फल है कि यह कौरवोंका अन्तकाल आ पहुँचा है
Vaiśampāyana uvāca— kṛtaṃ matākṣeṇa yathā na sādhu sādhupravṛttena ca pāṇḍavena | mayā ca duṣputravaśānugena tathā kurūṇām ayam antakālaḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “What was done by the dice-eyed (Śakuni) was in no way good; and even by the Pāṇḍava, though devoted to righteous conduct, it was not good—because he did not strike him down at once. I too, having yielded to the sway of a wicked son, have done nothing good. As the consequence of this, the hour of destruction for the Kurus has now arrived.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even a ‘righteous’ person incurs blame when he fails to restrain or punish manifest wrongdoing at the right time; yielding to immoral influence (such as a wicked son) leads to collective ruin, culminating in the destruction of a whole lineage.
The speaker reflects on the dice episode: Śakuni’s gambling-driven act was improper; Yudhiṣṭhira, though virtuous, is faulted for not stopping the wrong decisively; and the elder (implied Dhṛtarāṣṭra) confesses his own failure in submitting to his son’s influence—together presented as causes for the impending end of the Kurus.