Shloka 7
द्रोणपर्व (अध्याय १) — भीष्मनिधनानन्तरं धृतराष्ट्रस्य शोकः, सेनायाः स्थितिः, कर्णस्मरणं च
Droṇa Parva, Chapter 1: Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s grief after Bhīṣma’s fall and the army’s reorientation toward Karṇa
शिबिरात् संजयं प्राप्त निशि नागाह्यं पुरम् आम्बिकेयो महाराज धृतराष्ट्रोडन्वपृच्छत,महाराज! रातके समय कुरुक्षेत्रके शिविरसे हस्तिनापुरमें आये हुए संजयसे अम्बिकानन्दन धृतराष्ट्रने वहाँका समाचार पूछा
śibirāt sañjayaṁ prāptaṁ niśi nāgāhyaṁ puraṁ āmbikeyaḥ mahārāja dhṛtarāṣṭro 'nvapṛcchat — mahārāja, rātrikāle kurukṣetra-śibirāt hastināpuraṁ prāptaṁ sañjayaṁ āmbikānandanaḥ dhṛtarāṣṭraḥ tatra-vārttāṁ papraccha.
Vaiśampāyana said: When Sañjaya arrived by night from the camp at Kurukṣetra to the city called Nāgāhvaya (Hastināpura), King Dhṛtarāṣṭra, son of Ambikā, questioned him—asking for the news of what had occurred there. The blind monarch’s inquiry frames the moral tension of the war: a ruler bound by attachment and lineage seeks reports of a conflict whose consequences are inseparable from questions of responsibility and dharma.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical weight of kingship and accountability: even when physically removed (and blind), Dhṛtarāṣṭra remains morally implicated in the war’s unfolding, and his urgent questioning underscores how attachment to one’s side drives the demand for news amid adharma and catastrophe.
Sañjaya returns at night from the Kurukṣetra battlefield camp to Hastināpura (Nāgāhvaya). Dhṛtarāṣṭra, identified as Ambikā’s son, immediately questions him for a report of events—setting up the ensuing narration of the Drona Parva.