Shloka 1
धृतराष्ट्रस्य क्षमायाचनं तथा युधिष्ठिरे न्यासदानम् / Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Request for Forgiveness and the Entrustment to Yudhiṣṭhira
ऑपन-माज बछ। अऑि-छऋायज पज्चदशो< ध्याय: गान्धारीसहित धृतराष्ट्रका वनको प्रस्थान वैशम्पायन उवाच ततः प्रभाते राजा स धृतराष्ट्रो<म्बिकासुत: । आहुय पाण्डवान् वीरान् वनवासे कृतक्षण:
Vaiśampāyana uvāca | tataḥ prabhāte rājā sa dhṛtarāṣṭro ’mbikāsutaḥ | āhūya pāṇḍavān vīrān vanavāse kṛtakṣaṇaḥ ||
വൈശമ്പായനൻ പറഞ്ഞു—അതിനുശേഷം പ്രഭാതത്തിൽ അംബികയുടെ പുത്രനായ രാജാവ് ധൃതരാഷ്ട്രൻ വീര പാണ്ഡവരെ വിളിപ്പിച്ചു; വനവാസത്തിനായി പുറപ്പെടാൻ തീരുമാനിച്ചു.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the dharmic movement from worldly authority to renunciation: an aged ruler, burdened by past choices, turns toward forest-life as a form of withdrawal, discipline, and moral reckoning.
At dawn Dhṛtarāṣṭra summons the Pāṇḍavas and prepares to leave for the forest, initiating the episode of the elders’ departure from the court and the beginning of their austere life away from royal comforts.