Shloka 17
धृतराष्ट्र-सत्कारः तथा श्राद्ध-दाने नियमनम् | Honoring Dhṛtarāṣṭra and Regulating Śrāddha-Gifts
प्रियाण्येव तु कौरव्यो नाप्रियाणि कुरूद्गधह:
vaiśampāyana uvāca | priyāṇy eva tu kauravyo nāpriyāṇi kurūdgaḍhaḥ | viparītakaś ca me śatrur niyamyaś ca bhaven naraḥ ||
वैशम्पायन उवाच— कौरव्यः स्थिरनिश्चयः प्रियाण्येवाब्रवीन्नित्यं नाप्रियाणि कदाचन। “यो हि विपरीतमाचरति स मे शत्रुः; यश्च नियम्य आज्ञाधीनो वर्तते स मे सुहृद् भवेत्।” इति स दयालुः राजा युधिष्ठिरो भ्रातॄन् मन्त्रिणश्चोपदिश्य धृतराष्ट्रं गुरुवत् पूज्यं मन्यमानः, तदाज्ञापालनं निष्ठालक्षणं चकार।
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
A ruler should cultivate disciplined speech—favoring what is beneficial and agreeable over harshness—and maintain social order by defining loyalty as obedience to rightful authority; deliberate contrariness becomes a breach of dharma and is treated as enmity.
Vaiśampāyana describes Yudhiṣṭhira’s gentle, principled governance: he instructs his circle that honoring and obeying the elder Dhṛtarāṣṭra is a duty, and that those who oppose this discipline are to be regarded as adversaries liable to punishment.