Shloka 143
Gāndhārī’s Petition for a Vision of the Departed (गान्धार्याः प्रार्थना—दिव्यदर्शनप्रसङ्गः)
कथमेवंविधो मृत्यु: प्रशास्प पृथिवीमिमाम् । जिन्होंने पहले इस पृथ्वीका शासन करके अन्तमें वैसी कठोर तपस्याका आश्रय लिया था, उन कुरुवंशी राजर्षिको ऐसी मृत्यु क्यों प्राप्त हुई?
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | katham evaṃvidho mṛtyuḥ praśāsta pṛthivīm imām |
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “How could such a death befall those who once ruled this very earth with authority and, in the end, took refuge in such severe austerity? Why did the royal sages of the Kuru line—after governing first and then embracing hard tapas—meet with a death of this kind?”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames an ethical problem central to the Mahābhārata: outward virtue—righteous rule followed by severe austerity—does not automatically guarantee a gentle end. It invites reflection on the complexity of karma, the limits of human judgment about “deserved” outcomes, and the need to understand dharma beyond simplistic reward-and-punishment expectations.
Yudhiṣṭhira, distressed by the reported manner of death of the Kuru elders/royal sages who had renounced the world, questions how such an end could occur to those who had first governed the earth and then undertaken rigorous ascetic life. His question expresses grief, moral bewilderment, and a search for a dharmic explanation.