Shloka 4
Gāndhārī’s Petition for a Vision of the Departed (गान्धार्याः प्रार्थना—दिव्यदर्शनप्रसङ्गः)
जिन बाहुबलशाली नरेशके सौ पुत्र थे, जो स्वयं भी दस हजार हाथियोंके समान बलवान थे, वे ही दावानलसे जलकर मरे हैं, यह कितने दुःखकी बात है? ।। यं पुरा पर्यवीजन्त तालवृन्तैर्वरस्त्रिय: । त॑ गृध्रा: पर्यवीजन्त दावाग्निपरिकालितम्,पूर्वकालमें सुन्दरी स्त्रियाँ जिन्हें सब ओरसे ताड़के पंखोंद्वारा हवा करती थीं, उन्हें दावानलसे दग्ध हो जानेपर गीधोंने अपनी पाँखोंसे हवा की है
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca |
yaṃ purā paryavījanta tālavṛntair varastriyaḥ |
taṃ gṛdhrāḥ paryavījanta dāvāgniparikālītam ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “That king with a hundred sons, himself as strong as ten thousand elephants, was burned to death by the wildfire—what sorrow! He whom, in former days, noble women fanned on every side with palm-leaf fans—him the vultures now ‘fan’ with their wings, scorched by the forest fire. Alas, what a grievous reversal of fortune!”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores impermanence and the moral shock of worldly reversal: those once honored and comforted can, by fate and the consequences of life, meet an end marked by helplessness. It invites detachment from pride in power and status and compassion for the fallen.
Yudhiṣṭhira laments the tragic end of the elder Kuru figures who died in a forest fire. He contrasts their former royal comfort—being fanned by noble women—with their present condition, where vultures hover and beat their wings over the burned bodies.