Shloka 12
धृतराष्ट्रस्य क्षमायाचनं तथा युधिष्ठिरे न्यासदानम् / Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Request for Forgiveness and the Entrustment to Yudhiṣṭhira
तन्निर्याणे दु:खित: पौरवर्गो गजाह्वये चैव बभूव राजन् | यथा पूर्व गच्छतां पाण्डवानां द्यूते राजन् कौरवाणां सभाया:
tanniryāṇe duḥkhitaḥ pauravargo gajāhvaye caiva babhūva rājan | yathā pūrva gacchatāṃ pāṇḍavānāṃ dyūte rājan kauravāṇāṃ sabhāyāḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana disse: Ó rei, quando ele partiu, todo o corpo de cidadãos em Gajāhvaya (Hastināpura) ficou mergulhado em tristeza. Assim como outrora—após o jogo de dados—quando os Pāṇḍavas deixaram a assembleia dos Kauravas rumo ao exílio, o povo da cidade foi tomado de pesar, do mesmo modo, na partida de Dhṛtarāṣṭra, todos os habitantes foram atormentados pelo lamento.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights that a kingdom’s moral crises and reversals—especially those rooted in wrongdoing like the dice-game—leave lasting wounds not only on rulers and heroes but also on ordinary citizens. Collective grief becomes a social echo of ethical failure and impermanence in political fortune.
As Dhṛtarāṣṭra departs (for the forest life described in the Āśramavāsika narrative), the people of Hastināpura mourn intensely. The narrator compares this scene to the earlier moment when the Pāṇḍavas left the Kaurava assembly after the dice-game to begin exile, when the city likewise sank into sorrow.