मैत्रेय उवाच पृथु: प्रजानां करुणं निशम्य परिदेवितम् । दीर्घं दध्यौ कुरुश्रेष्ठ निमित्तं सोऽन्वपद्यत ॥ १२ ॥
maitreya uvaca prthuh prajanam karunam nisamya paridevitam dirgham dadhyau kurusrestha nimittam so ’nvapadyata
- maitreyah uvaca
- the great saint Maitreya said
- prthuh
- King Prthu
- prajanam
- of the citizens
- karunam
- pitiable condition
- nisamya
- hearing
- paridevitam
- lamentation
- dirgham
- for a long time
- dadhyau
- contemplated
- kuru-srestha
- O Vidura
- nimittam
- the cause
- sah
- he
- anvapadyata
- found out.
After hearing this lamentation and seeing the pitiable condition of the citizens, King Prthu contemplated this matter for a long time to see if he could find out the underlying causes.