Shloka 4
Droṇa Interdicts Sātyaki; Sātyaki’s Breakthrough and Duel with Kṛtavarmā (द्रोण-निवारणम्, सात्यकि-प्रवेशः, कृतवर्म-युद्धम्)
यदि त्वं हि पुरा द्यूतात् कुन्तीपुत्रं युधिष्ठिरम् । निवर्तयेथा: पुत्रांश्व न त्वां व्यसनमात्रजेत्,यदि आप कुन्तीनन्दन युधिष्ठिर तथा अपने पुत्रोंको पहले ही जूएसे रोक देते तो आपपर यह संकट नहीं आता
yadi tvaṃ hi purā dyūtāt kuntīputraṃ yudhiṣṭhiram | nivartayethāḥ putrāṃś ca na tvāṃ vyasanam ājayet ||
Sañjaya said: If, long ago, you had restrained Kuntī’s son Yudhiṣṭhira from the gambling match—and had also checked your own sons—then this calamity would not have overtaken you. The verse underscores that present ruin is the fruit of earlier moral failure: neglecting timely counsel and self-restraint leads to inevitable disaster.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
Timely restraint and righteous counsel are essential in governance and family leadership; ignoring vice (like gambling) and failing to correct one’s own kin leads to inevitable calamity. The verse frames the war’s suffering as a consequence of earlier preventable moral lapses.
Sañjaya addresses Dhṛtarāṣṭra, pointing out that if he had earlier stopped Yudhiṣṭhira from the dice match and also restrained his own sons, the present disaster would not have arisen—linking the current catastrophe of the war to the original wrongdoing surrounding the gambling episode.