Shloka 1
Gāndhārī’s Petition for a Vision of the Departed (गान्धार्याः प्रार्थना—दिव्यदर्शनप्रसङ्गः)
पम्प बछ। अं: अष्टात्रिशो&् ध्याय: नारदजीके सम्मुख युधिष्ठिरका धृतराष्ट्र आदिके लौकिक अग्निमें दग्ध हो जानेका वर्णन करते हुए विलाप और अन्य पाण्डवोंका भी रोदन युधिछिर उवाच तथा महात्मनस्तस्य तपस्युग्रे च वर्ततः । अनाथस्थेव निधन तिष्ठत्स्वास्मासु बन्धुषु,युधिष्ठिर बोले--भगवन्! हम-जैसे बन्धु-बान्धवोंके रहते हुए भी कठोर तपस्यामें लगे हुए महामना धृतराष्ट्रकी अनाथके समान मृत्यु हुई, यह कितने दुःखकी बात है?
Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca—bhagavan, mahātmanas tasya tapasy ugre ca vartataḥ | anāthasyeva nidhanaṃ tiṣṭhatsv asmāsu bandhuṣu ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “O revered one, it is a grievous sorrow that the great-souled Dhṛtarāṣṭra—while engaged in severe austerities—met his end as though he were without protectors, even though we, his own kinsmen, were still alive.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even when social bonds and protectors exist, death can arrive suddenly and leave one ‘as if unprotected’; the verse highlights impermanence and the ethical weight of kinship—Yudhiṣṭhira’s sorrow arises from the sense that a duty of care toward elders and relatives remains morally significant even after conflict.
After Nārada reports the end of Dhṛtarāṣṭra (and the others) in the forest, Yudhiṣṭhira laments that Dhṛtarāṣṭra, engaged in severe austerities, died like an orphan despite the Pāṇḍavas being alive—expressing grief, remorse, and the pain of losing an elder kinsman.