Shloka 243
ऋषिसमागमः — युधिष्ठिरस्य शोकवर्णनम्
Sage Assembly and Yudhiṣṭhira’s Articulation of Grief
तन्मे दहति गात्राणि तूलराशिमिवानल: । मैंने अनजानमें राज्यके लोभमें आकर भाईके हाथसे ही भाईका वध करा दिया। इस बातकी चिन्ता मेरे अंगोंको उसी प्रकार जला रही है, जैसे आग रूईके ढेरको भस्म कर देती है
tan me dahati gātrāṇi tūlarāśim ivānalaḥ | mayā anajñānena rājya-lobhena ākrāntena bhrātuḥ hastenaiva bhrātuḥ vadhaḥ kāritaḥ | etad-vṛtta-cintā mama aṅgāni tathā dahati yathā agniḥ tūla-rāśiṃ bhasma-sāt karoti |
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “It burns my limbs like fire consuming a heap of cotton. In my ignorance, seized by greed for the kingdom, I caused a brother to be slain by a brother’s own hand. The tormenting thought of this deed scorches me, just as flame reduces a pile of cotton to ash.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Unchecked desire for power (rājya-lobha) clouds discernment and leads to grave moral injury; even when victory is achieved, the inner consequence is burning remorse. The verse frames ethical accountability as an internal fire that consumes the doer.
In the aftermath of the great war, Yudhiṣṭhira laments that, driven by ambition and confusion, he became a cause for fratricidal slaughter—‘a brother slain by a brother.’ He describes his guilt as a fire consuming his body like cotton.