Shloka 19
Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Counsel on Restraint and the Pāṇḍavas’ Authorized Return (धृतराष्ट्र-उपदेशः)
युधिष्ठिर बोले--ओ मूढ़! तू निश्चय ही अधर्मका आचरण कर रहा है, जो न्यायकी ओर नहीं देखता। तू शुद्ध हृदयवाले हमारे भाइयोंमें फ़ूट डालना चाहता है ।। शकुनिरुवाच गर्ते मत्त: प्रपतते प्रमत्त: स्थाणुमृच्छति । ज्येष्टो राजन् वरिष्ठोडसि नमस्ते भरतर्षभ
Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca—O mūḍha! tvaṃ niścaya hi adharmasya ācaraṇaṃ karoṣi, yo nyāyasya diśaṃ na paśyasi. tvaṃ śuddha-hṛdayān asmān bhrātṝn bhedayitum icchasi. || Śakuniḥ uvāca—garte mattaḥ prapatate pramattaḥ sthāṇum ṛcchati. jyeṣṭho rājan variṣṭho ’si, namas te bharatarṣabha. ||
Юдхиштхира сказал: «Глупец! Ты несомненно творишь адхарму, ибо не смотришь в сторону справедливости. Ты хочешь посеять раздор между нами, братьями с чистыми сердцами». Шакуни сказал: «Пьяный падает в яму; беспечный налетает на столб. О царь, ты старший и лучший; поклон тебе, бык среди Бхаратов».
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Yudhiṣṭhira frames the issue as a moral one: ignoring nyāya (justice) and deliberately creating bheda (division) among brothers is adharma. Śakuni’s reply, cloaked in respectful address, uses proverbial imagery to imply that heedlessness leads to ruin—yet it also functions as rhetorical deflection rather than sincere ethical correction.
In the Sabha setting amid the tensions around the dice-game episode, Yudhiṣṭhira directly accuses Śakuni of unrighteous conduct and of trying to split the Pāṇḍava brothers. Śakuni responds with a proverb about the careless meeting disaster and then flatters Yudhiṣṭhira as the eldest and best, masking his manipulative intent under politeness.