Shloka 85
Kṛṣṇa at Duryodhana’s House: Refusal of Hospitality and Departure to Vidura (कृष्णस्य धार्तराष्ट्रनिवेशनगमनम्)
न दु:खं राज्यहरणं न च द्यूते पराजय: । प्रत्राजनं तु पुत्राणां न मे तद् दुःखकारणम्
na duḥkhaṁ rājyaharaṇaṁ na ca dyūte parājayaḥ | pratrājanaṁ tu putrāṇāṁ na me tad duḥkhakāraṇam ||
Vaiśampāyana disse: “A perda do reino não é a minha dor, nem a derrota no jogo de dados. Nem mesmo o envio de meus filhos ao exílio na floresta é, para mim, causa de luto. Mas que minha nora, nobre e formosa, tenha sido forçada a entrar na assembleia real vestindo apenas uma única veste e a suportar as palavras duras dos perversos—que tristeza poderia ser maior do que essa?”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse ranks moral injury above material loss: losing power, wealth, or even suffering exile is bearable, but the public dishonoring of a virtuous woman in the assembly is portrayed as the deepest grief and a grave breach of dharma.
In the Udyoga Parva’s recollection of the causes leading to war, the speaker contrasts earlier calamities (loss of kingdom, defeat at dice, exile of the sons) with the most painful event: the daughter-in-law’s humiliation in the sabhā, which becomes a decisive ethical outrage driving the conflict.