धृतराष्ट्र उवाच
दुर्योधन ममाप्य् एतद् धृदि संपरिवर्तते ॥
अभिप्रायस्य पापत्वान् नैतत् तु विवृणोम्य् अहम् ॥
न च भीष्मो न च द्रोणो न क्षत्ता न च गौतमः ॥
विवास्यमानान् कौन्तेयान् अनुमंस्यन्ति कर्हि चित् ॥
समा हि कौरवेयाणां वयम् एते च पुत्रक ॥
नैते विषमम् इच्छेयुर् धर्मयुक्ता मनस्विनः ॥
ते वयं कौरवेयाणाम् एतेषां च महात्मनाम् ॥
कथं न वध्यतां तात गच्छेम जगतस् तथा ॥
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca
duryodhana mamāpy etad dhṛdi saṃparivartate ||
abhiprāyasya pāpatvān naitat tu vivṛṇomy aham ||
na ca bhīṣmo na ca droṇo na kṣattā na ca gautamaḥ ||
vivāsyamānān kaunteyān anumaṃsyanti karhi cit ||
samā hi kauraveyāṇāṃ vayam ete ca putraka ||
naite viṣamam iccheyur dharmayuktā manasvinaḥ ||
te vayaṃ kauraveyāṇām eteṣāṃ ca mahātmanām ||
kathaṃ na vadhyatāṃ tāta gacchema jagatas tathā ||
Dhritarashtra said: 'Duryodhana, this too turns in my heart, but because of the sinfulness of this intention, I do not reveal it. Neither Bhishma, nor Drona, nor Vidura, nor Kripa will ever approve of the Kauntayas being banished; for to them we and they are equal, my son; these wise ones, devoted to dharma, will not wish for injustice. How then shall we not become deserving of death before the Kauravas, and before these great souls, and before the world, O son?'
973ae24ef085 · published Jul 12, 2026, 4:53:33 PM UTC
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Here Dhritarashtra pronounces sentence upon himself. His admission is significant: 'because of the sinfulness of the intention, I do not reveal it' -- he recognizes the scheme as sinful and therefore conceals it: his conscience is alive, but suppressed. Here is the clearest evidence of guilt: he sins not out of ignorance, but knowing and hiding that he sins. It is significant that what restrains him is not dharma itself but fear of the condemnation of the righteous and of the world: he fears being seen as deserving death, not being in the wrong. Here is the substitution of reputation for conscience: for the weak, seeming matters more than being. Significant, too, is his unwitting testimony to the righteousness of his elders -- Bhishma, Drona, Vidura, Kripa: they 'will not wish for injustice.' Thus the scripture, through Dhritarashtra's own mouth, condemns both the scheme as sin and him as its conscious, if fainthearted, accomplice.