Shloka 17
भीष्मद्रोणयोर्दुर्योधनं प्रति शमोपदेशः | Bhīṣma and Droṇa’s Counsel of Conciliation to Duryodhana
न राज्यहरणं दु:खं द्यूते चापि पराजय: । प्रत्राजनं सुतानां वा न मे तद् दुःखकारणम्,श्रीकृष्ण! मुझे राज्यके छिन जानेका उतना दुःख नहीं है। जुएमें हारने और पुत्रोंके वनवास होनेका भी मेरे मनमें उतना महान् दुःख नहीं है, परंतु भरी सभामें मेरी सुन्दरी युवती पुत्रवधू द्रौपदीने रोते हुए जो दुर्योधनके कटुवचन सुने थे, वही मेरे लिये महान् दुःखका कारण बन गया है
na rājyaharaṇaṁ duḥkhaṁ dyūte cāpi parājayaḥ | pratrājanaṁ sutānāṁ vā na me tad duḥkhakāraṇam, śrīkṛṣṇa |
ಶ್ರೀಕೃಷ್ಣನೇ! ರಾಜ್ಯ ಕಳೆದುಹೋದದ್ದು ನನ್ನ ಅತಿದೊಡ್ಡ ದುಃಖವಲ್ಲ; ಜೂಜಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಸೋತದ್ದೂ ಅಲ್ಲ; ನನ್ನ ಪುತ್ರರ ವನವಾಸವೂ ನನ್ನ ಶೋಕದ ಮೂಲಕಾರಣವಲ್ಲ. ನನ್ನ ಮಹಾದುಃಖವೆಂದರೆ—ಜನಸಮೂಹದಿಂದ ತುಂಬಿದ ಸಭೆಯಲ್ಲಿ ಅಳುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ನನ್ನ ಯೌವನವತಿ, ಸುಂದರಿ ಸೊಸೆ ದ್ರೌಪದಿಗೆ ದುರ್ಯೋಧನನ ಕಠೋರ ಹಾಗೂ ಅವಮಾನಕಾರಿ ಮಾತುಗಳನ್ನು ಕೇಳಬೇಕಾಯಿತು.
पुत्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse ranks sufferings: material loss (kingdom), personal setback (defeat at dice), and even family hardship (sons’ exile) are portrayed as less painful than the moral injury of a woman’s public humiliation. It highlights that adharma—especially dishonor inflicted in a public court—creates a deeper wound than political or economic loss, and becomes a decisive ethical reason for seeking redress.
In Udyoga Parva, as war becomes imminent, the speaker (the ‘son’, i.e., Yudhiṣṭhira in context) speaks to Śrī Kṛṣṇa about what truly torments him. He says that the central grief is not the loss of the kingdom or the dice defeat, but Draupadī’s suffering in the assembly where she had to hear Duryodhana’s cruel insults—an outrage that demands justice.