Shloka 13
कुन्त्युवाच कथं सद्धर्मचारित्रान् वृत्तस्थितिविभूषितान् | अक्षुद्रान् दृ्भक्तांश्व दैवतेज्यापरान् सदा,कुन्तीने कहा--पुत्रो! तुम उत्तम धर्मका पालन करनेवाले तथा सदाचारकी मर्यादासे विभूषित हो। तुममें क्षुद्रणाका अभाव है। तुम भगवानके सुदृढ़ भक्त और देवाराधनमें सदा तत्पर रहनेवाले हो, तो भी तुम्हारे ऊपर यह विपत्तिका पहाड़ टूट पड़ा है। विधाताका यह कैसा विपरीत विधान है। किसके अनिष्टचिन्तनसे तुम्हारे ऊपर यह महान् दुःख आया है, यह बुद्धिसे बार-बार विचार करनेपर भी मुझे कुछ सूझ नहीं पड़ता
kunty uvāca kathaṃ saddharmacāritrān vṛttasthitivibhūṣitān | akṣudrān dṛḍhabhaktāṃś ca daivatejyāparān sadā ||
Kuntī said: “How is it that you—who live by true dharma, adorned with the discipline and dignity of right conduct and steady character; who are free from pettiness; who are firm devotees of the Divine and ever intent on worship—have nevertheless been struck by this mountain of calamity? What kind of perverse ordinance of the Disposer is this? Even when I reflect again and again, I cannot discern whose ill-will could have brought upon you such great suffering.”
वैशमग्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical problem of undeserved suffering: even those established in dharma and devotion may face severe adversity. It invites reflection on fate (vidhātṛ), human agency, and the limits of moral causality in explaining misfortune.
Kuntī addresses her sons (implicitly the Pāṇḍavas), praising their righteous conduct and devotion, yet lamenting that a great calamity has fallen upon them. She wonders how such suffering could occur and cannot identify any specific ill-wisher whose malice would explain it.