Shloka 156
दुर्योधनस्य च तथा वृषभस्येव नर्दतः । हाय! अब मैं भीष्मजीकी धर्मयुक्त बात नहीं सुन सकूँगा। साँड़के समान गर्जनेवाले दुर्योधनके वीरोचित वचन भी अब मेरे कानोंमें नहीं पड़ सकेंगे
duryodhanasya ca tathā vṛṣabhasyeva nardataḥ | hāya! aba maiṁ bhīṣmajīkī dharmayukta bāta nahīṁ suna sakūṁgā | sāṁṛake samāna garjanevāle duryodhanake vīrocita vacana bhī aba mere kānoṁmeṁ nahīṁ paṛa sakeṁge |
Dhṛtarāṣṭra laments: “Alas! I shall no longer be able to hear Bhīṣma’s words, grounded in dharma; nor will the heroic speech of Duryodhana—roaring like a bull—ever again fall upon my ears.” The line underscores a father’s grief and belated recognition of the moral and martial voices silenced by the war’s ruin.
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical cost of adharma-driven conflict: even powerful voices—Bhīṣma’s dharma-counsel and Duryodhana’s heroic bravado—end in silence. It points to grief and regret that arise when moral guidance is ignored and war consumes one’s own kin.
In Strī Parva’s opening lamentations after the war, Dhṛtarāṣṭra mourns the dead and the irreversible loss of those he once heard and relied upon. He reflects that he will no longer hear Bhīṣma’s righteous counsel nor Duryodhana’s bull-like roaring speeches.