Shloka 1736

Devanagari script

समन्ततः परिक्षिप्ता माताभून्मे दवाग्निना । 'भीमसेन! इस भयसे मुझे बचाओ, ऐसा कहकर चारों ओर चीखती-चिल्लाती हुई मेरी माताको दावानलने जलाकर भस्म कर दिया होगा

Transliteration

samantataḥ parikṣiptā mātābhūn me davāgninā | bhīmasena! asya bhayāt māṃ mocaya iti uktvā caturdiśaṃ krandantī vilapantī ca mama mātā davānalena dagdhvā bhasmībhūtā bhaviṣyati ||

Translation

Yudhiṣṭhira said: “My mother was surrounded on every side by the forest-fire. Crying out, ‘Bhīmasena! Save me from this terror!’ and wailing in all directions, she must have been burned by the wildfire and reduced to ashes.”

Word by Word

समन्ततःon all sides, all around

परिक्षिप्ताsurrounded, encompassed

माताmother

अभूत्became, was

मेof me, my

दवाग्निनाby the forest-fire

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Yudhiṣṭhira

Bhīmasena (Bhīma)

Kuntī (implied as 'my mother')

davāgni (forest-fire)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The passage highlights the ethical weight of kinship and protection (especially toward one’s mother) and the painful recognition of impermanence: even the most revered relationships are vulnerable to sudden loss, calling for compassion and steadiness in dharma amid grief.

What is happening in the narrative?

Yudhiṣṭhira imagines (or fears) that his mother has been trapped by a forest-fire. He recalls her desperate cry to Bhīma for rescue and concludes that she may have been burned to ashes, expressing intense sorrow and helplessness.