Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 14
उष्णीषे परिगृलह्लीतां माद्रीपुत्रावुभी तथा । स्त्रियः कौरवनाथस्य भीष्मं कुरुकुलोद्वहम्
uṣṇīṣe parigṛhītāṁ mādrīputrāv ubhī tathā | striyaḥ kauravanāthasya bhīṣmaṁ kurukulodvaham ||
Vaiśampāyana said: The women of the Kuru house, under the lordship of the Kauravas, likewise took hold of the head-dress of both sons of Mādrī and thus approached Bhīṣma, the foremost bearer of the Kuru lineage—an act of ritualized supplication and grief after the dynasty’s ruin.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a social-ethical moment: in crisis, the Kuru women turn to Bhīṣma as the senior moral authority and symbolic pillar of the dynasty. Their physical act of grasping (by the head-dress) conveys urgent supplication, underscoring the Mahābhārata theme that dharma is often sought from elders when the family order collapses.
Vaiśampāyana narrates that the women associated with the Kaurava household seize hold of the two sons of Mādrī—Nakula and Sahadeva—by their head-dress and, in that state of distress, approach Bhīṣma, described as the foremost upholder of the Kuru line.