Shloka 27
Chapter 6: Dāruka’s Report; Arjuna Witnesses Dvārakā’s Desolation (दारुकवृत्तान्तः—अर्जुनस्य द्वारकादर्शनम्)
घोरं ज्ञातिवर्ध चैव न भुज्जे शोककर्शित: । न भोक्ष्ये न च जीविष्ये दिष्ट्या प्राप्तोडसि पाण्डव,तबसे मैं तुम्हारे दोनों भाई महात्मा बलराम और श्रीकृष्णका तथा कुटुम्बीजनोंके इस घोर संहारका चिन्तन करके शोकसे गलता जा रहा हूँ। मुझसे भोजन नहीं किया जाता। अब मैं न तो भोजन करूँगा और न इस जीवनको ही रखूँगा। पाण्डुनन्दन! सौभाग्यकी बात है कि तुम यहाँ आ गये
ghoraṁ jñātivadhāṁ caiva na bhuñje śokakarśitaḥ | na bhokṣye na ca jīviṣye diṣṭyā prāpto ’si pāṇḍava ||
Vasudeva said: “I am wasting away with grief as I contemplate this dreadful slaughter of my own kinsmen. Stricken by sorrow, I cannot eat. I will neither take food nor even continue to live. Yet it is a blessing, O Pāṇḍava, that you have arrived here.”
वसुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical and emotional devastation caused by internecine violence: even when events are fated, the destruction of one’s own kin brings profound grief, shaking the will to live and underscoring the human cost behind political or heroic narratives.
In the Mausala Parva’s aftermath of the Yādava catastrophe, Vasudeva addresses a Pāṇḍava (Arjuna), confessing that he is overwhelmed by sorrow at the dreadful slaughter of his relatives and is unable to eat, even expressing a wish to give up life—while also noting it is fortunate that Arjuna has arrived.