Shloka 16
धृतराष्ट्रस्य मूर्च्छा—व्यासोपदेशः
Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Collapse and Vyāsa’s Counsel
प्रत्यक्ष तव राजेन्द्र वैरस्पास्य समुद्धव: । पुत्र ते कारणं कृत्वा कालयोगेन कारित:
pratyakṣaṃ tava rājendra vairaspāsya samudbhavaḥ | putras te kāraṇaṃ kṛtvā kālayogena kāritaḥ ||
प्रत्यक्षं तव राजेन्द्र वैरस्यास्य समुद्भवः । पुत्रं ते कारणं कृत्वा कालयोगेन कारितः ॥
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
Vyāsa frames the catastrophe as having a visible human trigger (the king’s son becoming the immediate cause) while also being driven by Kāla—Time’s larger, inexorable dispensation. Ethically, it warns rulers not to hide behind fate: proximate causes still involve human choices and accountability, even when events unfold within a wider destiny.
In the aftermath of the war (Strī Parva’s lamentation context), Vyāsa addresses the king and explains how the hostility and its eruption were not sudden or hidden: it unfolded openly. The son’s actions served as the practical catalyst, yet the overall unfolding is attributed to the overpowering course of Time.