Shloka 18
Adhyāya 32: Tāpasānāṃ Darśanaṃ — Ascetics Seek to Identify the Pāṇḍavas
धर्मशीलो महातेजा: कुरूणां हितकृत् तथा । ततः प्रोवाच ता: सर्वा: क्षत्रिया निहतेश्वरा:
dharmaśīlo mahātejāḥ kurūṇāṃ hitakṛt tathā | tataḥ provāca tāḥ sarvāḥ kṣatriyā nihateśvarāḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Then the great-souled, radiant sage—steadfast in dharma and ever acting for the welfare of the Kurus—addressed all those Kṣatriya women whose lords had been slain. Standing in the water, he spoke words meant to guide the widows toward the path they sought, grounding their grief in a dharmic resolve and directing them toward reunion with their husbands’ destined realms.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds dharmic leadership in a time of collective grief: a righteous, luminous guide acts for the welfare of the Kuru community by giving purposeful counsel to those devastated by war, redirecting sorrow toward a disciplined, value-guided course.
After the destruction of the Kuru lords, the widowed Kṣatriya women are addressed by a dharma-centered, radiant figure who speaks to them as a group, setting the stage for their subsequent action described in the surrounding passage (their wish to follow their husbands’ path and the ritual act connected with the river).