श्रुत्वा तु धृतराष्ट्रस् तद् राजा सुमहद् अप्रियम् ॥
विनाशं पाण्डुपुत्राणां विललाप सुदुःखितः ॥
अद्य पाण्डुर् मृतो राजा भ्राता मम सुदुर्लभः ॥
तेषु वीरेषु दग्धेषु मात्रा सह विशेषतः ॥
गच्छन्तु पुरुषाः शीघ्रं नगरं वारणावतम् ॥
सत्कारयन्तु तान् वीरान् कुन्तिराजसुतां च ताम् ॥
śrutvā tu dhṛtarāṣṭras tad rājā sumahad apriyam ||
vināśaṃ pāṇḍuputrāṇāṃ vilalāpa suduḥkhitaḥ ||
adya pāṇḍur mṛto rājā bhrātā mama sudurlabhaḥ ||
teṣu vīreṣu dagdheṣu mātrā saha viśeṣataḥ ||
gacchantu puruṣāḥ śīghraṃ nagaraṃ vāraṇāvatam ||
satkārayantu tān vīrān kuntirājasutāṃ ca tām ||
'Having heard that most grievous news of the death of the sons of Pandu, King Dhritarashtra wept, deeply grieving: "Now King Pandu, my precious brother, has as it were died again, now that those heroes have been burned, especially together with their mother. Let men go quickly to Varanavata, let them honor those heroes and that daughter of King Kuntibhoja."'
68ed262addfb · published Jul 12, 2026, 5:03:09 PM UTC
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Here the bitterest hypocrisy reveals itself — tears over those whom he himself allowed to be destroyed. It is telling that Dhritarashtra, who consented to the plot, now weeps over the Pandavas as over his own kin: his grief is neither wholly feigned nor wholly sincere — such is the divided man who has let evil pass and afterward mourns its fruits. Here is the torment of an unclean conscience: one who does evil against the voice of his own conscience is afterward tormented, but too late. It is telling that he calls Pandu his 'precious brother': love for his brother still lives in him, and this only makes his complicity in the destruction of his brother's children heavier. Thus scripture shows the tragedy of the weak man: he loves and betrays at once, and his tears bear witness not to innocence but to inner division.