Shloka 7
Karṇa-nidhana-śravaṇa, Kṣaya-Varṇana, and Śeṣa-sainika-nirdeśa
Hearing of Karṇa’s Fall, Accounting of Losses, and Naming of Remaining Warriors
समाश्चस्ताः स्त्रियस्तास्तु वेपमाना मुहुर्मुहुः | कदल्य इव वातेन धूयमाना: समन्ततः,आश्वासन पाकर भी वे स्त्रियाँ चारों ओरसे वायु-द्वारा हिलाये जाते हुए केलेके वृक्षोंकी भाँति बारंबार काँप रही थीं
samāś ca tāḥ striyas tāstu vepamānā muhur muhuḥ | kadalī iva vātena dhūyamānāḥ samantataḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Those women, gathered together, kept trembling again and again—shaken on every side by the wind, like banana trees swaying under a gust. The image underscores the helpless vulnerability of non-combatants amid the turmoil and fear generated by war.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the collateral suffering and psychological terror produced by war, reminding the listener that violence destabilizes the innocent and exposes human fragility—an implicit ethical critique of unchecked conflict.
The narrator describes a group of women who are repeatedly trembling, compared to banana trees swaying in the wind, conveying widespread fear and agitation in the surrounding environment.