Shloka 26

Strī Parva, Adhyāya 2 — Vidura’s Consolation on Kāla, Karma, and the Limits of Lamentation (विदुरोपदेशः)

Devanagari script

न जानपदिकं दुःखमेक: शोचितुमहसि । अप्यभावेन युज्येत तच्चास्य न निवर्तते,जो दुःख सारे देशपर पड़ा है, उसके लिये अकेले आपको ही शोक करना उचित नहीं है। शोक करते-करते कोई मर जाय तो भी उसका वह शोक दूर नहीं होता है

Transliteration

na jānāpadikaṁ duḥkham ekaḥ śocitum arhasi | apy abhāvena yujyeta tac cāsya na nivartate ||

Translation

Vidura dit : «Cette douleur qui s’est abattue sur tout le royaume n’est pas un fardeau que tu doives pleurer seul. Quand bien même un homme se consumerait et mourrait de chagrin, ce chagrin n’en serait pas pour autant défait.»

Word by Word

नnot

जानपदिकम्belonging to the people/country-wide

दुःखम्sorrow, grief

एकःalone, single (person)

शोचितुम्to grieve, to lament

अर्हसिyou ought/are fit (to)

अपिeven, also

अभावेनby death/non-existence

युज्येतmight be joined/come to (i.e., might die)

तत्that (grief)

चand

अस्यof him/for him

नnot

निवर्ततेceases, turns back, is removed

Speaker

विदुर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vidura

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Vidura teaches restraint and perspective in mourning: when suffering is collective and unavoidable, solitary, self-consuming grief is neither appropriate nor effective; excessive lamentation does not reverse loss and can destroy the mourner.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Stree Parva’s aftermath of the Kurukṣetra catastrophe, Vidura speaks as a counselor, addressing a bereaved royal figure and urging them not to collapse into private despair over a calamity that has engulfed the entire kingdom.