Shloka 13

स्त्रीपर्व — अध्याय १५: गान्धारी-युधिष्ठिर-संवादः

Gandhārī’s Confrontation and Consolation of Yudhiṣṭhira

Devanagari script

हताश्वे नकुले यत्तु वृषसेनेन भारत । अपिब: शोणितं संख्ये द:ःशासनशरीरजम्‌

Transliteration

hatāśve nakule yat tu vṛṣasenenā bhārata | apibaḥ śoṇitaṃ saṅkhye duḥśāsanaśarīrajam ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana sprach: „O Bhārata, was jene Tat betrifft — als Nakulas Pferde erschlagen waren — trank Vṛṣasena mitten im Kampf das Blut, das aus Duḥśāsanas Leib hervorgequollen war.“

Word by Word

हताश्वेin (the case of) Hataśva / when Hataśva was (involved)

नकुलेin Nakula (i.e., with respect to Nakula)

यत्which/that (fact)

तुbut/indeed

वृषसेनेनby Vṛṣasena

भारतO Bhārata

अपिबःyou drank

शोणितम्blood

संख्येin battle

दुःशासनof Duḥśāsana

शरीरजम्born from the body (i.e., from the body of Duḥśāsana)

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Bhārata (Janamejaya)

Nakula

Vṛṣasena

Duḥśāsana

battlefield (saṅkhya)

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 moral collapse that war can produce: acts that transgress ordinary human and dharmic boundaries are narrated as signs of the battlefield’s brutalizing force and the spiraling logic of vengeance.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana recounts a specific battlefield incident: after Nakula’s horses were killed, Vṛṣasena is described as drinking blood that flowed from Duḥśāsana’s body during combat.