Shloka 31
यथैव पाण्डवा भूमौ सुषुपु: सह बान्धवै: । तथैव नागरा राजन् शिश्यिरे ब्राह्मणादय:,राजन! बारह रात्रियोंतक जिस प्रकार बन्धु-बान्धवों-सहित पाण्डव भूमिपर सोये, उसी प्रकार ब्राह्मण आदि नागरिक भी धरतीपर ही सोते रहे। उतने दिनोंतक हस्तिनापुर नगर पाण्डवोंके साथ आनन्द और हर्षोल्लाससे शून्य रहा। बूढ़ोंसे लेकर बच्चेतक सभी वहाँ दुःखमें डूबे रहे। सारा नगर ही अस्वस्थचित्त हो गया था
yathaiva pāṇḍavā bhūmau suṣupuḥ saha bāndhavaiḥ | tathaiva nāgarā rājan śiśyire brāhmaṇādayaḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “Just as the Pāṇḍavas, together with their kinsmen, slept upon the bare ground, so too, O King, did the townspeople—beginning with the brāhmaṇas—lie down to sleep on the earth. The city’s shared austerity and grief mirrored the Pāṇḍavas’ distress, expressing collective solidarity and the moral weight of their misfortune.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights communal dharma: when righteous figures suffer, society may respond with shared restraint and mourning. The citizens’ choice to sleep on the ground signifies solidarity, ethical empathy, and recognition that public life is morally bound to the fate of its leaders and exemplars.
After a distressing event affecting the Pāṇḍavas, they sleep on the bare earth along with their relatives. The townspeople, led by brāhmaṇas, imitate this act—also sleeping on the ground—showing that the entire city participates in the Pāṇḍavas’ sorrow.