Shloka 283
अश्रमवासिनां विषादः — Lament in Hastināpura after the Elders’ Forest Withdrawal
आगम्य मम पुत्रार्थे सर्वे मृत्युवशं गता: । अनेक देशोंके स्वामी महामनस्वी नरेश मेरे पुत्रकी सहायताके लिये आकर सब-के-सब मृत्युके अधीन हो गये
āgamya mama putrārthe sarve mṛtyuvaśaṃ gatāḥ | aneka-deśānāṃ svāmī mahāmanasvī nareśa mama putrasya sahāyatāyai āgatya sarve kevalaṃ mṛtyor adhīnā abhavan |
Vaiśampāyana said: “Having come for the sake of my son, they all fell under the dominion of Death. Great-minded kings—lords of many realms—arrived to support my son, yet every one of them, without exception, became subject to mortality.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even the greatest rulers, despite power and noble intent, cannot escape mortality; attachment to outcomes—such as fighting for a loved one’s cause—still ends under the universal law of death, urging humility and discernment in dharmic action.
The narrator reflects that many mighty kings from various regions came to aid the speaker’s son, but all of them ultimately perished—emphasizing the vast human cost and the inevitability of death that overtakes all participants.