जज्ञे क्रमेण चैतेन तेषां दुर्योधनो नृपः ॥
जन्मतस् तु प्रमाणेन ज्येष्ठो राजा युधिष्ठिरः ॥
जातमात्रे सुते तस्मिन् धृतराष्ट्रो ऽब्रवीद् इदम् ॥
समानीय बहून् विप्रान् भीष्मं विदुरम् एव च ॥
युधिष्ठिरो राजपुत्रो ज्येष्ठो नः कुलवर्धनः ॥
प्राप्तः स्वगुणतो राज्यं न तस्मिन् वाच्यम् अस्ति नः ॥
अयं त्व् अनन्तरस् तस्माद् अपि राजा भविष्यति ॥
एतद् धि ब्रूत मे सत्यं यद् अत्र भविता ध्रुवम् ॥
jajñe krameṇa caitena teṣāṃ duryodhano nṛpaḥ ||
janmatas tu pramāṇena jyeṣṭho rājā yudhiṣṭhiraḥ ||
jātamātre sute tasmin dhṛtarāṣṭro 'bravīd idam ||
samānīya bahūn viprān bhīṣmaṃ viduram eva ca ||
yudhiṣṭhiro rājaputro jyeṣṭho naḥ kulavardhanaḥ ||
prāptaḥ svaguṇato rājyaṃ na tasmin vācyam asti naḥ ||
ayaṃ tv anantaras tasmād api rājā bhaviṣyati ||
etad dhi brūta me satyaṃ yad atra bhavitā dhruvam ||
"And so, in due order, king Duryodhana was born from among them; but by time of birth the eldest was king Yudhishthira. As soon as that son was born, Dhritarashtra, having gathered many brahmins, Bhishma, and Vidura, spoke thus: 'The prince Yudhishthira is our eldest, the continuer of the line; by his own virtues he has attained the kingdom, and in this we have no dispute. But will this one, my son, the next after him, also become king? Tell me this truly -- what will surely come to pass here.'"
380f81e4ffc7 · publicado 12 jul 2026, 16:30:26 UTC
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Here, at the very hour of Duryodhana's birth, the root of the coming discord is already laid bare. Telling is the contradiction in Dhritarashtra's words: with his mouth he acknowledges Yudhishthira's primacy "by virtues" and his right to the kingdom, yet in the same breath betrays his hidden wish -- that his own son become king. Here is the beginning of a fateful self-deception: the blind king knows dharma (the eldest and most worthy is Yudhishthira), yet his heart already inclines against it. Telling too is that the question is asked in the very moment Duryodhana is born: scarcely come into the world, he already becomes the object of his father's ambitious hopes, contrary to the law. Thus scripture shows that the great war is conceived not on the field of Kurukshetra but here -- in the heart of a father who prefers his son to justice; the blindness of Dhritarashtra's eyes turns into blindness of heart toward dharma.