Shloka 20
प्राक्रोशन् भैरवं तत्र दृष्टवा कृष्णां सभागताम् । धर्मिष्ठां धर्मपत्नीं च रूपयौवनशालिनीम्,संजय! उसके अभिशापसे मेरे सभी पुत्रोंका आज ही संहार हो जाता, परंतु उसने सब कुछ चुपचाप सह लिया। जिस समय रूप और यौवनसे सुशोभित होनेवाली पाण्डवोंकी धर्मपरायणा धर्मपत्नी कृष्णा सभामें लायी गयी, उस समय वहाँ उसे देखकर भरतवंशकी सभी स्त्रियाँ गान्धारीके साथ मिलकर बड़े भयानक स्वरसे विलाप एवं चीत्कार करने लगीं
dhṛtarāṣṭra uvāca | prākrośan bhairavaṁ tatra dṛṣṭvā kṛṣṇāṁ sabhāgatām | dharmiṣṭhāṁ dharmapatnīṁ ca rūpayauvanaśālinīm, saṁjaya |
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “There, seeing Kṛṣṇā (Draupadī) brought into the assembly—most steadfast in dharma, the lawful wife, radiant with beauty and youth—the women of the Bharata line, together with Gāndhārī, raised a dreadful cry of lamentation, O Sañjaya.”
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
When dharma is violated in a public institution like the royal assembly, even those not directly targeted (here, the women of the Bharata household) recognize the moral catastrophe and respond with grief; the verse underscores that social conscience reacts to adharma, and that the humiliation of a dharmic person destabilizes the entire polity.
Draupadī is brought into the Kuru assembly after the dice-game calamity. Seeing her—renowned for righteousness and as the lawful wife of the Pāṇḍavas—the women of the Kuru household, along with Gāndhārī, cry out in a fearful, anguished lament, signaling the gravity of the outrage unfolding in the court.