पितेव हि नृपो ऽस्माकम् अभूच् छांतनवः पुरा ॥
विचित्रवीर्यो राजर्षिः पाण्डुश् च कुरुनन्दनः ॥
स तस्मिन् पुरुषव्याघ्रे दिष्टभावं गते सति ॥
राजपुत्रान् इमान् बालान् धृतराष्ट्रो न मृष्यते ॥
वयम् एतद् अमृष्यन्तः सर्व एव पुरोत्तमात् ॥
गृहान् विहाय गच्छामो यत्र याति युधिष्ठिरः ॥
piteva hi nṛpo 'smākam abhūc chāṃtanavaḥ purā ||
vicitravīryo rājarṣiḥ pāṇḍuś ca kurunandanaḥ ||
sa tasmin puruṣavyāghre diṣṭabhāvaṃ gate sati ||
rājaputrān imān bālān dhṛtarāṣṭro na mṛṣyate ||
vayam etad amṛṣyantaḥ sarva eva purottamāt ||
gṛhān vihāya gacchāmo yatra yāti yudhiṣṭhiraḥ ||
"For once a king was to us like a father, one from the line of Shantanu, the royal sage Vichitravirya, and Pandu, the joy of the Kurus. Now that that tiger among men, Pandu, has departed by the will of fate, Dhritarashtra does not tolerate these young princes. We, unable to bear this, will all leave our homes and depart the finest of cities to go wherever Yudhishthira goes."
813adff50fb6 · published Jul 12, 2026, 5:03:09 PM UTC
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Here the people's love for the righteous rises to a readiness to give up everything for their sake. Telling is the townsfolk's decision: to abandon their homes and the very city itself, only to follow Yudhishthira — the highest measure of the people's devotion. Here is revealed the drawing power of dharma embodied in a person: where the truly righteous one is, there hearts are drawn, ready to give up shelter and prosperity for his sake. Telling too is that the people keep the memory of the good kings of the line and judge the present one by that measure: the good memory of forebears becomes the standard for their descendants. Thus the scripture reveals how greatly Yudhishthira is loved and how alien to the people is the wrongdoing of Dhritarashtra; and this love of the people is a pledge of dharma's coming triumph.