Shloka 12
धृतराष्ट्रस्य क्षमायाचनं तथा युधिष्ठिरे न्यासदानम् / Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Request for Forgiveness and the Entrustment to Yudhiṣṭhira
तन्निर्याणे दु:खित: पौरवर्गो गजाह्वये चैव बभूव राजन् | यथा पूर्व गच्छतां पाण्डवानां द्यूते राजन् कौरवाणां सभाया:
tanniryāṇe duḥkhitaḥ pauravargo gajāhvaye caiva babhūva rājan | yathā pūrva gacchatāṃ pāṇḍavānāṃ dyūte rājan kauravāṇāṃ sabhāyāḥ ||
毗湿摩波耶那说：大王啊，他启程之时，象城伽阇阿呼耶（哈斯提那补罗）的全体市民尽陷悲恸。正如往昔——掷骰之后——般度五子离开俱卢族的议厅赴林中流放时，城中百姓为哀伤所淹没；如今，持国王离去之际，所有市民也同样被哭号与叹息所折磨。
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights that a kingdom’s moral crises and reversals—especially those rooted in wrongdoing like the dice-game—leave lasting wounds not only on rulers and heroes but also on ordinary citizens. Collective grief becomes a social echo of ethical failure and impermanence in political fortune.
As Dhṛtarāṣṭra departs (for the forest life described in the Āśramavāsika narrative), the people of Hastināpura mourn intensely. The narrator compares this scene to the earlier moment when the Pāṇḍavas left the Kaurava assembly after the dice-game to begin exile, when the city likewise sank into sorrow.