Shloka 25
भातृश्न पुत्रांश्ष हतान् निशम्य पाज्चालराजं पितरं च वृद्धम् । ध्रुवं विसंज्ञा पतिता पृथिव्यां सा शोष्यते शोककृशाड्रयष्टि:,“एक तो पहलेसे ही शोकके कारण क्षीण होकर उसकी देह सूखी लकड़ीके समान हो गयी है? दूसरे फिर जब वह अपने भाइयों, पुत्रों तथा बूढ़े पिता पांचालराज ट्रुपदकी मृत्युका समाचार सुनेगी तब और भी सूख जायगी तथा अवश्य ही अचेत होकर पृथ्वीपर गिर पड़ेगी
bhrātṝn putrāṁś ca hatān niśamya pāñcālarājaṁ pitaraṁ ca vṛddham | dhruvaṁ visaṁjñā patitā pṛthivyāṁ sā śoṣyate śokakṛśā dāruyaṣṭiḥ ||
Sūta said: Hearing that her brothers and sons have been slain, and that her aged father—the king of the Pāñcālas—has also fallen, she will surely collapse senseless upon the earth. Already emaciated by grief, she will wither still further, like a dry wooden staff.
सूत उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the ethical reality that the cruelty of war does not end with victory or death on the field; it radiates into households, crushing the innocent through grief. By portraying a woman already wasted by sorrow and then struck by further bereavement, it implicitly condemns violence that multiplies suffering beyond its immediate targets.
Sūta describes the expected reaction of the bereaved woman (contextually, Draupadī): when she hears that her brothers and sons have been killed and that her aged father Drupada, king of the Pāñcālas, is also dead, she will faint and fall to the ground, withering further from grief.