Shloka 45
अश्रमवासिनां विषादः — Lament in Hastināpura after the Elders’ Forest Withdrawal
श्रीमतो<5स्य महाबुद्धे: संग्रामेष्वपलायिन: । पुत्रस्य ते पुत्रशतं निहतं यद् रणाजिरे
śrīmato 'sya mahābuddheḥ saṅgrāmeṣv apalāyinaḥ | putrasya te putraśataṃ nihataṃ yad raṇājire, tena ārambheṇa mahatā mām upāste mahāmune ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “O great sage, these are the hundred daughters-in-law who attend upon me—those wives of your son, the illustrious king, supremely wise and never one to turn away in battle—whose hundred sons were slain on the field of war. Struck by immense grief at that great calamity, they remain devoted to my service, even as their sorrow continually deepens the mourning of both me and the king.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the human cost of war: even valor and intelligence cannot prevent the devastation that follows unrighteous conflict. It also highlights dharma in the form of continued service and familial obligation amid grief—sorrow does not erase duties, yet it deepens the moral weight of past choices.
Vaiśampāyana describes to a great sage that the widows of the slain Kaurava princes—‘a hundred’ in number—remain gathered around and serving the elders. Their mourning, born from the battlefield deaths of the king’s sons, continually intensifies the shared grief of the household in the forest-ashram setting of the Āśramavāsika narrative.