स्त्रीपर्व — अध्याय १५: गान्धारी-युधिष्ठिर-संवादः
Gandhārī’s Confrontation and Consolation of Yudhiṣṭhira
वैरमुद्दीपितं राज्ञि पुत्रेण तव तन््महत् । क्लेशिताश्न वने नित्यं तत एतत् कृतं मया,“रानी! आपके पुत्रने उस महान् वैरकी आगको और भी प्रज्वलित कर दिया और हमें वनमें भेजकर सदा क्लेश पहुँचाया; इसीलिये हमने उसके साथ ऐसा व्यवहार किया है
vairam uddīpitaṁ rājñi putreṇa tava tan mahat | kleśitāś ca vane nityaṁ tata etat kṛtaṁ mayā ||
वैशम्पायन उवाच—राज्ञि! तव पुत्रेण तन्महद्वैरमुद्दीपितं ज्वलनमिव प्रज्वलितम्। अस्मान् वने प्रेषयित्वा नित्यं क्लेशितवान्; तस्मादेतत् कृतं मया।
वैशम्पायन उवाच
The verse highlights moral causality: when leaders inflame hostility and impose unjust suffering (such as exile), they generate consequences that return upon them. It frames retaliation as arising from prior wrongdoing, inviting reflection on responsibility and restraint in power.
The speaker addresses a queen and explains that her son intensified a longstanding feud and caused continual hardship by sending the speaker’s side to live in the forest; hence, the speaker justifies a subsequent action taken against him as a response to those provocations.