Shloka 13
“अपने वीर पुत्रोंको क्षत्रिय-धर्मके अनुसार मारा गया सुनकर भी आप उपप्लव्यनगरमें मेरे साथ रहते हुए उन्हें सर्वथा भूल जायँगे; यह भी भाग्यकी ही बात है ।। प्रसुप्तानां वर्ध॑ श्रुत्वा द्रोणिना पापकर्मणा । शोकस्तपति मां पार्थ हुताशन इवाश्रयम्,'पार्थ! पापाचारी द्रोणपुत्रके द्वारा मेरे सोये हुए पुत्रोंका वध किया गया, यह सुनकर शोक मुझे उसी प्रकार संतप्त कर रहा है, जैसे आग अपने आधारभूत काष्ठको ही जला डालती है इति श्रीमहाभारते सौप्तिकपर्वणि ऐषीकपर्वणि द्रौणिवधार्थ भीमसेनगमने एकादशो<ध्याय:
vaiśampāyana uvāca | prasuptānāṁ vadhāṁ śrutvā droṇinā pāpakarmaṇā | śokas tapati māṁ pārtha hutāśana ivāśrayam ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “O Pārtha, on hearing that my sons were slain while asleep by Droṇa’s son—whose deed was sinful—grief burns me, just as fire consumes the very fuel on which it rests. Even when one knows that warriors fall according to kṣatriya-duty, the manner of this killing violates the moral order and turns righteous sorrow into a consuming blaze.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse contrasts lawful kṣatriya combat with an unethical act: killing sleeping warriors. It shows that grief is intensified when death occurs through adharma, and it frames moral injury as a consuming inner fire.
After the nocturnal slaughter in the Pāṇḍava camp, the speaker reports the news that the sons were killed while asleep by Droṇa’s son (Aśvatthāman). Addressing Arjuna as Pārtha, he describes how this report makes sorrow burn within him like fire consuming its own support.