Shloka 23
कर्णसेनापत्यारम्भः — Karṇa’s Appointment and the Report to Dhṛtarāṣṭra
Chapter 1
तथैव चान्यान् सुह्ृद:ः पुत्रान् पौत्रांश्व पातितान् । श्रुत्वा यन्नाजहात् प्राणांस्तन्मन्ये दुष्करं द्विज
tathaiva cānyān suhṛdaḥ putrān pautrāṁś ca pātitān | śrutvā yan nājahāt prāṇāṁs tan manye duṣkaraṁ dvija ||
Janamejaya said: “Likewise, having heard that other dear friends, as well as sons and grandsons, had been struck down, he still did not abandon his life. From this, O twice-born one, I conclude that for a human being to die by one’s own will—deliberately relinquishing life—is exceedingly difficult.”
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a psychological-ethical insight: even amid overwhelming bereavement, relinquishing life by sheer will is not easy; the instinct to live and the complexity of human duty and attachment make voluntary death a difficult act.
Janamejaya, listening to the war account, reflects on how someone who heard that many close relations—friends, sons, and grandsons—had been killed still did not give up his life, and he asks the sage to note how hard it is for a person to choose death intentionally.