Shloka 17
Droṇa Interdicts Sātyaki; Sātyaki’s Breakthrough and Duel with Kṛtavarmā (द्रोण-निवारणम्, सात्यकि-प्रवेशः, कृतवर्म-युद्धम्)
परंतु उनका वैसा महान् कर्म भी आपको पाकर अत्यन्त निष्फल हो गया; क्योंकि आपने राज्यके लोभमें पड़कर उन्हें अपने पैतृक राज्यसे भी वंचित कर दिया ।। यत् पुनर्युद्धकाले त्वं पुत्रान् गर्हयसे नूप । बहुधा व्याहरन् दोषान् न तदद्योपपद्यते,नरेश्वरर आज जब युद्धका अवसर उपस्थित है, ऐसे समयमें जो आप अपने पुत्रोंके नाना प्रकारके दोष बताते हुए उनकी निन्दा कर रहे हैं यह इस समय आपको शोभा नहीं देता है
sañjaya uvāca | parantu teṣāṁ tādṛśaṁ mahān karma api tvām avāpya atyanta-niṣphalaṁ babhūva; yasmāt tvayā rājyasya lobhena te pitr̥ya-rājyād api vañcitāḥ || yat punar yuddha-kāle tvaṁ putrān garhayase nṛpa | bahudhā vyāharan doṣān na tad adyopapadyate nareśvara ||
Sanjaya said: Yet even their great and heroic deeds became utterly fruitless upon reaching you, for, driven by greed for the kingdom, you deprived them even of their ancestral realm. And now, O king—when the moment of battle has arrived—your censuring your sons, repeatedly enumerating their faults, is not fitting today, O lord of men. In such a crisis, moral posturing after enabling injustice rings hollow.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
A ruler’s late moral criticism is meaningless if he previously enabled injustice out of greed. Ethical authority requires consistency: depriving others of their rightful inheritance undermines any later claims of righteousness.
Sanjaya, reporting to King Dhritarashtra, rebukes him: Dhritarashtra’s greed led to the Pandavas being denied their ancestral kingdom, and now—at the outbreak of war—his blaming his own sons by listing their faults is portrayed as untimely and unbecoming.