Shloka 16

धृतराष्ट्रस्य मूर्च्छा—व्यासोपदेशः

Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Collapse and Vyāsa’s Counsel

Devanagari script

प्रत्यक्ष तव राजेन्द्र वैरस्पास्य समुद्धव: । पुत्र ते कारणं कृत्वा कालयोगेन कारित:

Transliteration

pratyakṣaṃ tava rājendra vairaspāsya samudbhavaḥ | putras te kāraṇaṃ kṛtvā kālayogena kāritaḥ ||

Translation

രാജേന്ദ്രാ! ഈ വൈരത്തിന്റെ ഉദ്ഭവം നിന്റെ കണ്ണുമുന്നിൽ തന്നെയുണ്ടായി. നിന്റെ പുത്രനെ കാരണമാക്കി, കാലയോഗം (വിധിസംയോഗം) കൊണ്ടാണ് ഇത് സംഭവിച്ചത്.

Word by Word

प्रत्यक्षम्directly, before (your eyes)

तवof you, your

राजेन्द्रO king of kings

वैरस्यof enmity

अस्यof this

समुद्भवःorigin, arising

पुत्रम्son

तेof you, your

कारणम्cause, reason

कृत्वाhaving made

कालयोगेनby the conjunction/operation of time (fate)

कारितःwas caused/done (made to happen)

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vyāsa

rājendra (the king addressed)

putra (the king’s son)

kāla (Time)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Vyāsa frames the catastrophe as having a visible human trigger (the king’s son becoming the immediate cause) while also being driven by Kāla—Time’s larger, inexorable dispensation. Ethically, it warns rulers not to hide behind fate: proximate causes still involve human choices and accountability, even when events unfold within a wider destiny.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the aftermath of the war (Strī Parva’s lamentation context), Vyāsa addresses the king and explains how the hostility and its eruption were not sudden or hidden: it unfolded openly. The son’s actions served as the practical catalyst, yet the overall unfolding is attributed to the overpowering course of Time.