धृतराष्ट्र उवाच
संसाध्य तु महात्मानं भीष्मं भीमपराक्रमम् ॥
किम् अकार्षुः परं तात कुरवः कालचोदिताः ॥
तस्मिन् विनिहते शूरे दुराधर्षे महौजसि ॥
किं नु स्वित् कुरवो ऽकार्षुर् निमग्नाः शोकसागरे ॥
तद् उदीर्णं महत् सैन्यं त्रैलोक्यस्यापि संजय ॥
भयम् उत्पादयेत् तीव्रं पाण्डवानां महात्मनाम् ॥
देवव्रते तु निहते कुरूणाम् ऋषभे तदा ॥
यद् अकार्षुर् नृपतयस् तन् ममाचक्ष्व संजय ॥
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca
saṃsādhya tu mahātmānaṃ bhīṣmaṃ bhīmaparākramam ||
kim akārṣuḥ paraṃ tāta kuravaḥ kālacoditāḥ ||
tasmin vinihate śūre durādharṣe mahaujasi ||
kiṃ nu svit kuravo 'kārṣur nimagnāḥ śokasāgare ||
tad udīrṇaṃ mahat sainyaṃ trailokyasyāpi saṃjaya ||
bhayam utpādayet tīvraṃ pāṇḍavānāṃ mahātmanām ||
devavrate tu nihate kurūṇām ṛṣabhe tadā ||
yad akārṣur nṛpatayas tan mamācakṣva saṃjaya ||
[Dhritarashtra said:] Having crushed the great-souled Bhishma, formidable in valor, what did the Kurus, driven by Time, do thereafter, O dear one? When that hero — unassailable, mighty — was cast down, what indeed, in truth, did the Kurus do, plunged into the ocean of grief? That great army, terribly risen up, which could instill fierce terror even in the three worlds — [what is it now] before the great-souled Pandavas? When Devavrata, the bull among the Kurus, was slain, what did the kings do then — tell me that, O Sanjaya.
4755355b1595 · प्रकाशित 19 जुल॰ 2026, 2:46:26 pm UTC
उपलब्ध भाषाएँRUENश्लोक बदलें इन कुंजियों से
Twice and thrice the king repeats the same question — "what did they do, what did they do" — and in this circling return one hears not reason but the numbness of grief unable to take in what has happened. The word "driven by Time" (kālacoditāḥ) is significant: Dhritarashtra himself glimpses that the army now moves not by its own will but by a fate he himself summoned through his sanctioning of unrighteousness. The army that threatened the three worlds is turned into those drowning in the "ocean of grief": outward might without a foundation in dharma proves powerless in the hour of trial. The verse shows how the greatest strength, lacking a righteous basis, becomes helplessness in an instant.