Shloka 17
भीष्मद्रोणयोर्दुर्योधनं प्रति शमोपदेशः | Bhīṣma and Droṇa’s Counsel of Conciliation to Duryodhana
न राज्यहरणं दु:खं द्यूते चापि पराजय: । प्रत्राजनं सुतानां वा न मे तद् दुःखकारणम्
na rājyaharaṇaṁ duḥkhaṁ dyūte cāpi parājayaḥ | pratrājanaṁ sutānāṁ vā na me tad duḥkhakāraṇam, śrīkṛṣṇa |
اے شری کرشن! نہ تو سلطنت کا چھن جانا میرا سب سے بڑا غم ہے، نہ پاسوں میں شکست، نہ بیٹوں کی جلاوطنی اور مشقت—یہ میرے رنج کی اصل وجہ نہیں۔ میرا سب سے بڑا کرب یہ ہے کہ بھری سبھا میں روتی ہوئی میری جوان اور حسین بہو دروپدی کو دُریودھن کے تلخ اور ذلت آمیز کلمات سننے پڑے۔
पुत्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse ranks sufferings: material loss (kingdom), personal setback (defeat at dice), and even family hardship (sons’ exile) are portrayed as less painful than the moral injury of a woman’s public humiliation. It highlights that adharma—especially dishonor inflicted in a public court—creates a deeper wound than political or economic loss, and becomes a decisive ethical reason for seeking redress.
In Udyoga Parva, as war becomes imminent, the speaker (the ‘son’, i.e., Yudhiṣṭhira in context) speaks to Śrī Kṛṣṇa about what truly torments him. He says that the central grief is not the loss of the kingdom or the dice defeat, but Draupadī’s suffering in the assembly where she had to hear Duryodhana’s cruel insults—an outrage that demands justice.