Shloka 43
देवसत्रे मृत्युनिरोधः, पूर्वेन्द्राणां मानुषावतरणम्, द्रौपदी-वरकथनम्
Suspension of Death at the Devasatra; Former Indras’ Human Descent; Draupadī’s Boon Etiology
पौर्णमास्यां घनैर्मुक्तौ चन्द्रसूर्याविवोदितौ । तेषां माता बहुविधं विनाशं पर्यचिन्तयत्
paurṇamāsyāṃ ghanair muktau candrasūryāv ivoditau | teṣāṃ mātā bahuvidhaṃ vināśaṃ paryacintayat ||
Vaiśampāyana sprach: In der Vollmondnacht, von der dichten Wolkenmasse befreit, leuchteten sie wie Mond und Sonne, die eben erst aufgegangen sind. Doch als die Zeit des Almosengangs verstrichen war und ihre Söhne noch immer nicht zurückkehrten, versank ihre Mutter Kuntī — aus tiefer Liebe — in mancherlei bange Gedanken und fürchtete ihren Untergang: Vielleicht hatten Dhṛtarāṣṭras Söhne, die Pāṇḍavas, die Vornehmsten im Kuru-Geschlecht, erkannt und erschlagen; oder vielleicht hatten die schrecklichen, trügerischen Rākṣasas, fest in Feindschaft verharrend, ihre Kinder getötet; oder vielleicht war etwas geschehen, das selbst der feststehenden Absicht des großherzigen Vyāsa zuwiderlief.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how deep affection can intensify fear and suspicion, and it contrasts human anxiety with the larger moral order—suggesting that even when appearances are bright (like moon and sun freed from clouds), the mind may still be clouded by worry, especially amid known enmity.
The Pāṇḍavas have not returned by the expected time, and Kuntī, their mother, becomes anxious and imagines possible causes—murder by the Kauravas, attack by hostile rākṣasas, or an unforeseen turn contrary to Vyāsa’s settled plan—while the narrator describes the sons’ radiant appearance through a vivid full-moon simile.