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,श्रीकृष्ण! मुझे राज्यके छिन जानेका उतना दुःख नहीं है। जुएमें हारने और पुत्रोंके वनवास होनेका भी मेरे मनमें उतना महान् दुःख नहीं है, परंतु भरी सभामें मेरी सुन्दरी युवती पुत्रवधू द्रौपदीने रोते हुए जो दुर्योधनके कटुवचन सुने थे, वही मेरे लिये महान् दुःखका कारण बन गया है
na rājyaharaṇaṁ duḥkhaṁ dyūte cāpi parājayaḥ | pratrājanaṁ sutānāṁ vā na me tad duḥkhakāraṇam, śrīkṛṣṇa |
“噢，圣克里希纳！失去王国并非我最深的悲痛，掷骰败北亦非；儿子们被放逐、受尽艰辛，也不是我哀伤的真正根由。令我最为锥心的是：在满朝众目之下，我那年轻美丽的儿媳德劳帕蒂（Draupadī）含泪听受杜尤陀那（Duryodhana）刻薄而羞辱的言辞。”
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.