Shloka 423
ऋषिसमागमः — युधिष्ठिरस्य शोकवर्णनम्
Sage Assembly and Yudhiṣṭhira’s Articulation of Grief
कारणं नाधिगच्छामि कथंचिदपि चिन्तयन् | मेरा विश्वास है कि कर्णके दोनों पैर माता कुन्तीके चरणोंके सदृश थे। कुन्ती और कर्णके पैरोंमें इतनी समानता क्यों है? इसका कारण ढूँढ़ता हुआ मैं बहुत सोचता-विचारता; परंतु किसी तरह कोई कारण नहीं समझ पाता था
kāraṇaṃ nādhigacchāmi kathaṃcid api cintayan |
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “Though I reflect in every possible way, I cannot discover the reason. I kept thinking: ‘Karna’s two feet were like the feet of Mother Kuntī.’ Why should there be such striking similarity between Kuntī’s and Karna’s feet? I pondered long, yet I could not understand any cause at all.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the limits of inference based on outward signs and the moral weight of hidden kinship: even a perceptive, dharma-minded person may sense clues, yet without truthful disclosure the real cause remains concealed—showing how secrecy about origins can shape ethical understanding and later remorse.
Yudhiṣṭhira recalls an observation that Karna’s feet resembled Kuntī’s and admits that, despite much reflection, he could not explain it—an implicit foreshadowing of Karna’s true birth and the tragic consequences of not knowing (or not being told) the family truth.