Shloka 2

Adhyāya 16 — Daiva, Kṣatriya-dharma, and Public Reassurance to Dhṛtarāṣṭra

Devanagari script

द्यूतापह्तराज्यानां पतितानां सुखादपि । ज्ञातिभि: परिभूतानां कृतमुद्धर्षणं मया,जूएमें तुम्हारा राज्य छीन लिया गया था। तुम सुखसे भ्रष्ट हो चुके थे और तुम्हारे ही बन्धु-बान्धव तुम्हारा तिरस्कार करते थे, इसलिये मैंने तुम्हें युद्धके लिये उत्साह प्रदान किया था

Transliteration

dyūtāpahṛtarājyānāṃ patitānāṃ sukhād api | jñātibhiḥ paribhūtānāṃ kṛtam uddharṣaṇaṃ mayā ||

Translation

వైశంపాయనుడు పలికెను—పాశక్రీడచే రాజ్యము అపహరింపబడి, సుఖస్థితినుండికూడా పతితులై, తమ స్వజనులచే అవమానింపబడిన వారిని చూచి, వారి మనోబలము పెంపొందించుటకై నేను వారిని కార్యమునకు, యుద్ధమునకు ప్రేరేపించితిని.

Word by Word

द्यूतापहृतराज्यानाम्of those whose kingdom was taken away by gambling

पतितानाम्of the fallen/ruined (ones)

सुखात्from happiness/comfort

अपिeven/also

ज्ञातिभिःby kinsmen/relatives

परिभूतानाम्of those who were insulted/treated with contempt

कृतम्done/made

उद्धर्षणम्incitement/rousing (to action)

मयाby me

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

the dispossessed kings (implicitly the Pāṇḍavas)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights how loss of rightful sovereignty through adharma (here, the dice-game) leads to social humiliation and moral crisis, and how such degradation can become a catalyst for decisive action—raising questions about when rousing someone toward conflict is justified as a response to injustice.

What is happening in the narrative?

The speaker explains his motive: because the dispossessed were stripped of their kingdom by gambling and were scorned by their own relatives, he deliberately encouraged and energized them—implicitly toward the struggle that followed.