Shloka 46
न कुन्ती न च पाउ्चाली न चोलूपी न सात्वती
na kuntī na ca pāñcālī na colūpī na sātvatī
Vaiśampāyana said: “Neither Kuntī, nor Pāñcālī, nor Colūpī, nor the Sātvata lady (Satyavatī) …”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses emphatic negation to single out an exceptional circumstance: even the most eminent women of the epic are excluded from what is being described. This rhetorical listing highlights the severity of the moment and points to the Mahābhārata’s recurring ethical insight—status, virtue, and close relations do not shield one from the workings of time, loss, and destiny.
Vaiśampāyana begins enumerating key women—Kuntī, Draupadī, Ulūpī, and the Sātvata lady—stating “not” of each, as part of a larger sentence. The line functions as a setup for a contrast or exclusion in the surrounding verses, marking who was not involved/present/affected in the specific event being narrated in the Āśramavāsika context.