Text 41]
Questions by Vidura
41
in-law, Kuntīdevī. It is understood that Mahārāja Pāṇḍu was a great warrior and that he alone, with the help of bow and arrow, could conquer the world's four directions. In the absence of such a husband, it was almost impossible for Kuntī to live on even as a widow, but she had to do it for the sake of the five children.
TEXT 41
सौम्यानुशोचे तमधःपतन्तं 
  भ्रात्रे परेताय विदुदुहे यः। 
  निर्यापितो येन सुहृत्स्वपुर्या 
  अहं स्वपुत्रान् समनुव्रतेन ॥४१॥
saumyānuśoce tam adhaḥ-patantam 
  bhrātre paretāya vidudruhe yaḥ 
  niryāpito yena suhṛt sva-puryā 
  aham sva-putrān samanuvratena
saumya—O gentle one; anuśoce—just lamenting; tam—him; adhaḥ-patantam—gliding down; bhrātre—on his brother's; paretāya—death; vidudruhe—revolted against; yaḥ—one who; niryāpitaḥ—driven out; yena—by whom; suhṛt—well-wisher; sva-puryāḥ—from his own house; aham—myself; sva-putrān—with his own sons; samanuvratena—accepting the same line of action.
TRANSLATION
O gentle one, I simply lament for him [Dhṛtarāṣṭra] who rebelled against his brother after death. By him I was driven out of my own house, although I am his sincere well-wisher. He did this by accepting the line of action adopted by his own sons.
PURPORT
Vidura did not ask about the welfare of his elder brother because there was no chance of his well-being, only news of his gliding down to hell. Vidura was a sincere well-wisher for Dhṛtarāṣṭra, and he had a thought about him in the corner of his heart. He lamented that Dhṛtarāṣṭra could rebel against the sons of his dead brother Pāṇḍu and that he could drive him (Vidura) out of his own house on the dictation of his crooked sons. In spite of these actions, Vidura never became an enemy of Dhṛtarāṣṭra but continued to be his well-wisher, and at the last stage of Dhṛtarāṣṭra's