Shloka 7
अौर्ध्वदेहिक-श्राद्धे दानयज्ञविस्तारः | Expansion of the Aurdhvadehika Śrāddha and the Donation-Rite
आकुमारं च पौरास्ते चिन्ताशोकसमाहता: । तत्र तत्र कथाश्षक्रु: समासाद्य परस्परम्,बच्चेसे लेकर बूढ़ेतक समस्त पुरवासी चिन्ता और शोकसे पीड़ित हो जहाँ-तहाँ एक- दूसरेसे मिलकर उपर्युक्त बातें ही किया करते थे
ākumāraṃ ca paurās te cintāśokasamāhatāḥ | tatra tatra kathāś cakruḥ samāsādya parasparam ||
Vaiśampāyana said: From children up to the aged, the townspeople—struck by anxiety and grief—kept meeting one another here and there, and repeatedly spoke among themselves of those very matters, their minds fixed on the same sorrowful news.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Collective suffering after great events spreads through an entire society: anxiety and grief do not remain private but become shared discourse. The verse underscores the human and ethical cost of calamity—how communities are bound together not only by joy and duty, but also by shared sorrow and reflection.
The narrator describes the mood in the city: people of all ages are overwhelmed by worry and grief. They keep encountering one another in different places and repeatedly discuss the same distressing developments, showing a pervasive atmosphere of mourning.