Shloka 48
धृतराष्ट्रस्य पाण्डवेषु प्रीति-वृत्तान्तः | Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Affectionate Disposition toward the Pāṇḍavas
अहूं वन॑ गमिष्यामि भवानू् राज्यं प्रशासतु । न मामयशसा दग्धं भूयस्त्वं दग्धुमहसि
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | ahaṃ vanaṃ gamiṣyāmi bhavān rājyam praśāsatu | na mām ayaśasā dagdhaṃ bhūyas tvaṃ dagdhum arhasi, nṛpaśreṣṭha mahārāja |
ਯੁਧਿਸ਼ਠਿਰ ਨੇ ਆਖਿਆ— ਮੈਂ ਵਨ ਨੂੰ ਚਲਾ ਜਾਵਾਂਗਾ; ਤੁਸੀਂ ਰਾਜ ਚਲਾਓ। ਮੈਂ ਅਪਯਸ਼ ਦੀ ਅੱਗ ਨਾਲ ਪਹਿਲਾਂ ਹੀ ਸੜ ਚੁੱਕਾ ਹਾਂ—ਹੇ ਨ੍ਰਿਪਸ਼੍ਰੇਸ਼ਠ, ਮੈਨੂੰ ਫਿਰ ਨਾ ਸਾੜੋ।
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical weight of kingship and the inner burden of moral injury: a ruler who feels stained by dishonor seeks expiation through renunciation, and pleads that authority be exercised without further wounding those already consumed by remorse.
Yudhiṣṭhira, overwhelmed by the aftermath of the great conflict and the stigma he feels, tells the addressed king to take up governance while he himself will go to the forest, asking not to be subjected again to the ‘burning’ of disgrace.