Shloka 43

Vyāsa’s Boon-Offer and Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Remorse in the Forest Assembly (आश्रमवासिक पर्व, अध्याय ३६)

Devanagari script

अन्त:पुरेषु च तदा सुमहान्‌ रुदितस्वन: । प्रादुरासीन्महाराज पृथां श्रुत्वा तथागताम्‌,भीमसेन आदि सभी भाई रोने लगे। महाराज! कुन्तीकी वैसी दशा सुनकर अन्तःपुरमें भी रोने-बिलखनेका महान्‌ शब्द सुनायी देने लगा

Transliteration

antaḥpureṣu ca tadā sumahān ruditasvanaḥ | prādurāsīn mahārāja pṛthāṃ śrutvā tathāgatām ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana sprach: „Da, o großer König, erhob sich in den inneren Gemächern ein überaus lauter Klang des Weinens. Als man hörte, dass Pṛthā (Kuntī) in einen solchen Zustand geraten sei, brachen auch die Frauen des Palastes in Klage aus.“

Word by Word

अन्तःपुरेषुin the inner apartments (harem/palace chambers)

चand

तदाthen

सुमहान्very great

रुदितस्वनःsound of weeping (wailing-noise)

प्रादुरासीत्arose/appeared

महाराजO great king

पृथाम्Prithā (Kuntī)

श्रुत्वाhaving heard

तथाthus/so; in that manner

गताम्gone/come to such a state (having become so)

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Mahārāja (Janamejaya)

Pṛthā (Kuntī)

antaḥpura (inner apartments/palace women)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the inevitability of sorrow even in royal life and points to the ethical truth of impermanence: when elders suffer or decline, the community’s grief reveals bonds of duty, care, and shared responsibility.

What is happening in the narrative?

News of Kuntī (Pṛthā) reaching a grievous condition spreads, and a great outcry of weeping rises in the palace’s inner quarters; the narrator reports the collective lamentation that follows upon hearing her plight.