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

આ દુઃખ આખા રાજ્ય પર પડ્યું છે; તેના માટે એકલા તારે જ શોક કરવો યોગ્ય નથી. શોક કરતાં કરતાં કોઈ ક્ષીણ થઈ મરી જાય તોય તે શોક દૂર થતો નથી.

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

Cross References

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.