Shloka 1
Yudhiṣṭhira’s Lament for Karṇa and Renunciation-Oriented Self-Assessment (शोक-प्रलापः / त्याग-प्रवृत्तिः)
अपने-आप बछ। अर: 2 सप्तमो<्ध्याय: युधिष्ठिरका आन्तरिक खेद प्रकट करते हुए अपने लिये राज्य छोड़कर वनमें चले जानेका प्रस्ताव करना वैशम्पायन उवाच युधिष्ठिरस्तु धर्मात्मा शोकव्याकुलचेतन: । शुशोच दुःखसंतप्त: स्मृत्वा कर्ण महारथम्
Vaiśampāyana uvāca: Yudhiṣṭhiras tu dharmātmā śokavyākulacetanaḥ | śuśoca duḥkhasaṃtaptaḥ smṛtvā Karṇaṃ mahāratham || te vayaṃ pṛthivī-hetor avadhyān pṛthivīśvarān | saṃparityajya jīvāmo hīnārthā hata-bāndhavāḥ ||
毗湿摩波耶那说：坚守达摩的由提施提罗，因悲痛而内心震荡。哀伤煎迫之下，他忆及大车战士迦尔纳，便沉痛哀叹：“为了大地——为了王权——我们杀了本不该杀之人，那些大地之主。如今让我们舍弃一切而苟活下去吧：志趣尽失，亲族尽亡。”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the ethical aftermath of violence: even a dharma-minded king can be overwhelmed by remorse when he reflects on the human cost of sovereignty. It frames kingship as morally weighty—victory does not erase guilt—and introduces the tension between worldly duty (ruling) and the impulse toward renunciation when one feels complicit in adharma.
After the war, Yudhiṣṭhira is consumed by grief, especially on remembering Karṇa. He declares that for the sake of the kingdom they have killed ‘unslayable’ kings and now proposes abandoning the realm and living on without purpose, as survivors whose kin have been destroyed—setting the stage for counsel on śānti (pacification) and righteous governance.