Shloka 24
Abhimanyu’s Śrāddha; Vyāsa’s Assurance of the Unborn Heir (अभिमन्योः श्राद्धं तथा गर्भरक्षणोपदेशः)
शस्त्रपूतां हि स गतिं गत: परपुरंजय: । “दुर्धषष वीर पिताजी! इसलिये आप शोक त्याग दीजिये! शोकके वशीभूत न होइये। शत्रुओंके नगरपर विजय पानेवाला वीरवर अभिमन्यु शस्त्राघातसे पवित्र हो उत्तम गतिको प्राप्त हुआ है ।।
śastrapūtāṃ hi sa gatiṃ gataḥ parapuraṃjayaḥ | tasmiṃstu nihate vīre subhadreyaṃ svasā mama, ārye kva dārakāḥ sarve draṣṭum icchāmi tān aham |
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: “That hero, the conqueror of enemy strongholds, has attained a blessed course of destiny—purified by the stroke of weapons. Therefore, O valiant father, abandon grief; do not fall under sorrow’s control. Abhimanyu, best of warriors and victor over hostile cities, has reached the highest state through his battle-wounds. But when that hero was slain, my sister Subhadrā, overwhelmed by anguish, went to her son and lamented like a curlew; then, approaching Draupadī in her grief, she asked: ‘Noble lady, where are all the children? I wish to see them all.’”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage frames a warrior’s death in righteous battle as spiritually purifying (śastrapūta) and leading to an elevated destiny (gati), while also urging restraint from being mastered by grief—an ethical call to steadiness amid inevitable loss.
After Abhimanyu’s death, words of consolation describe his heroic end as leading to a higher state. Subhadrā, overcome with sorrow, laments intensely and then approaches Draupadī, asking where all the children are because she longs to see them.