Shloka 60
आयोधनदर्शनम्
Viewing the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra
नूनमाचरितं पापं मया पूर्वेषु जन्मसु । या पश्यामि हतानू पुत्रान् पौत्रान् भ्रातृश्ष माधव,“माधव! निश्चय ही मैंने पूर्वजन्मोंमें कोई बड़ा भारी पाप किया है, जिससे आज अपने पुत्रों, पौत्रों और भाइयोंको यहाँ मारा गया देख रही हूँ”
nūnam ācaritaṃ pāpaṃ mayā pūrveṣu janmasu | yā paśyāmi hatān putrān pautrān bhrātṝṃś ca mādhava ||
„Gewiss habe ich in früheren Geburten eine schwere Sünde begangen, o Mādhava; denn nun sehe ich meine Söhne, meine Enkel und meine Brüder hier erschlagen daliegen.“
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse voices a common Mahābhārata ethical reflex: unbearable suffering is interpreted through karma—past wrongdoing (pāpa) is imagined as ripening into present grief. It highlights how humans seek moral causality and accountability when confronted with the devastation of war.
In Strī-parvan’s aftermath of Kurukṣetra, a bereaved woman addresses Kṛṣṇa as Mādhava and laments that she is seeing her sons, grandsons, and brothers slain. The line captures the immediate shock of mass familial loss and frames it as the fruit of past-life sin.