Shloka 53
धृतराष्ट्रविलापः — Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Lament and Inquiry (Śalya-parva, Adhyāya 2)
दुःखशोकाभिसंतप्तो न श्रोष्ये परुषा गिर: । दुर्योधनके वधसे दुःख और शोकसे संतप्त हुआ मैं बारंबार बोलनेवाले भीमसेनकी कठोर बातें नहीं सुन सकूँगा ।। ५२ ई ।। वैशम्पायन उवाच एवं वृद्धश्न संतप्त: पार्थिवो हतबान्धव:
duḥkhaśokābhisaṃtapto na śroṣye paruṣā giraḥ | duryodhanake vadhase duḥkha aura śokase saṃtapta huā maiṃ bārambār bolanevāle bhīmasenakī kaṭhora bāteṃ nahīṃ suna sakūṃgā || 52 e || vaiśampāyana uvāca evaṃ vṛddhaśna saṃtaptaḥ pārthivo hatabāndhavaḥ
Overwhelmed by grief and sorrow, he declares that he cannot bear to hear Bhīmasena’s harsh, repeated words. Vaiśampāyana continues: thus the king—aged and deeply afflicted, his kinsmen slain—remains consumed by anguish, as the war’s cruelty turns speech itself into a further wound.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights the ethical weight of speech: when a person is already scorched by grief, harsh words become a further form of violence. It implicitly warns that triumphal or cruel speech in the wake of death deepens suffering and erodes dharmic restraint.
In the aftermath of catastrophic losses and with Duryodhana’s death impending/at issue, the bereaved king—his family destroyed—cannot endure Bhīma’s repeated, cutting remarks. Vaiśampāyana frames the scene as one of overwhelming sorrow where even words intensify the tragedy.