Shloka 2
Adhyāya 16 — Daiva, Kṣatriya-dharma, and Public Reassurance to Dhṛtarāṣṭra
द्यूतापह्तराज्यानां पतितानां सुखादपि । ज्ञातिभि: परिभूतानां कृतमुद्धर्षणं मया
dyūtāpahṛtarājyānāṃ patitānāṃ sukhād api | jñātibhiḥ paribhūtānāṃ kṛtam uddharṣaṇaṃ mayā ||
وَیشَمپایَن نے کہا—جن کی سلطنت جوئے میں چھن گئی تھی، جو آسودگی و راحت کی حالت سے بھی گر پڑے تھے اور اپنے ہی رشتہ داروں کے ہاتھوں ذلیل کیے جاتے تھے—انہیں دیکھ کر میں نے ان کے حوصلے کو جگانے کے لیے انہیں عمل اور جنگ پر آمادہ کیا۔
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
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.
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.