Shloka 10
Gāndhārī’s Petition for a Vision of the Departed (गान्धार्याः प्रार्थना—दिव्यदर्शनप्रसङ्गः)
युधिष्ठटिस्थ जननी भीमस्य विजयस्य च । अनाथवत् कथं दग्धा इति मुह्यामि चिन्तयन्,युधिष्ठिर, भीमसेन और अर्जुनकी माता अनाथकी भाँति कैसे जल गयी, यह सोचकर मैं मोहित हो जाता हूँ
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | yudhiṣṭhirasya jananī bhīmasya vijayasya ca | anāthavat kathaṃ dagdhā iti muhyāmi cintayan ||
As I reflect, I am bewildered: how could my mother—mother of Bhīma and of Vijaya (Arjuna)—be burned like one without protection? The thought confounds me.
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the moral shock that arises when suffering appears to strike even the righteous and protected. Yudhiṣṭhira’s bewilderment points to a central Mahābhārata concern: human judgment struggles to grasp the workings of destiny and the limits of worldly protection, urging humility and steadiness in dharma amid grief.
In Āśramavāsika Parva, after the elders have withdrawn to the forest, news reaches the Pāṇḍavas of a devastating forest fire. Yudhiṣṭhira, hearing that his mother (Kuntī) perished in the blaze, is stunned and asks how she could have been burned ‘like one without a protector,’ despite being the mother of mighty heroes such as Bhīma and Arjuna (Vijaya).