Shloka 4
Yudhiṣṭhira’s Lament for Karṇa and Renunciation-Oriented Self-Assessment (शोक-प्रलापः / त्याग-प्रवृत्तिः)
युधिष्ठिरने कहा--अर्जुन! यदि हमलोग वृष्णिवंशी तथा अन्धकवंशी क्षत्रियोंकी नगरी द्वारकामें जाकर भीख माँगते हुए अपना जीवन-निर्वाह कर लेते तो आज अपने कुटुम्बको निर्वेश करके हम इस दुर्दशाको प्राप्त नहीं होते ।।
Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca— Arjuna! yadi vayaṁ Vṛṣṇivaṁśyāndhakavaṁśya-kṣatriyāṇāṁ nagarīṁ Dvārakāṁ gatvā bhikṣāṁ yācantaḥ jīvana-nirvāhaṁ kṛtavantaḥ syāma, adya sva-kutumbaṁ nirveśya naivaṁ durdaśāṁ prāpnuyāma. Amitrā naḥ samṛddhārthā vṛttārthāḥ Kuravaḥ kila; ātmānam ātmanā hatvā kiṁ dharma-phalam āpnuyāmaḥ?
ユディシュティラは言った。「アルジュナよ、もし我らがドヴァーラカー—ヴリシュニ族とアンダカ族の都—へ赴き、乞食して命をつないでいたなら、今日このように一族の命を奪い尽くした末の惨状には至らなかったであろう。敵の望みは成就した。彼らは我らの血統の滅亡を見て喜ぶに違いない。カウラヴァの企ても、彼らの命とともにのみ終わったのだ。身内を殺し、その同じ行いによって自らをも滅ぼした我らが、いかなるダルマの果を得られようか。」
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the moral anguish that follows violence against one’s own kin: even if victory is achieved, the inner cost can feel like self-destruction. It questions whether any ‘fruit of dharma’ can arise from actions that annihilate one’s family and leave the agent spiritually devastated.
In Śānti Parva, after the catastrophic war, Yudhiṣṭhira speaks to Arjuna in grief and self-reproach. He imagines an alternative—living by alms in Dvārakā among allied clans—arguing that such humble survival would have been preferable to the present ruin, where enemies’ wishes seem fulfilled and the victors feel morally broken.