Shloka 17
Yudhiṣṭhira’s Lament for Karṇa and Renunciation-Oriented Self-Assessment (शोक-प्रलापः / त्याग-प्रवृत्तिः)
यदासां निहता: पुत्रा युवानो मृष्टकुण्डला: । अभुकक््त्वा पार्थिवान् भोगानृणान्यनपहाय च,परंतु उनका यह उद्योग सर्वथा निष्फल हो गया; क्योंकि हमलोगोंने उन सब माताओंके नवयुवक पुत्रोंको, जो विशुद्ध सुवर्णमय कुण्डलोंसे अलंकृत थे, मार डाला है। वे इस भूलोकके भोगोंके उपभोगका अवसर न पाकर देवताओं और पितरोंका ऋण उतारे बिना ही यमलोकमें चले गये
yadāsāṁ nihatāḥ putrā yuvāno mṛṣṭa-kuṇḍalāḥ | abhuñjaktvā pārthivān bhogān ṛṇāny anapahāya ca ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “When those mothers’ sons—young men adorned with bright, well-wrought earrings—have been slain, they have departed to Yama’s realm without ever tasting the enjoyments of earthly life and without discharging the debts owed to gods and ancestors. Thus, the mothers’ efforts and hopes have been rendered wholly fruitless by our deed.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames war-death as an ethical catastrophe beyond physical loss: the slain youths are denied both worldly fulfillment and the chance to complete dharmic obligations (debts to gods and ancestors). Yudhiṣṭhira’s lament highlights responsibility for disrupting others’ life-stages and duties, intensifying the moral weight of violence.
In Śānti Parva, Yudhiṣṭhira reflects on the aftermath of the Kurukṣetra war. Here he mourns that the young sons of many mothers—adorned and in the prime of life—were killed by his side, and therefore went to Yama’s realm without enjoying life or fulfilling traditional obligations, making the mothers’ aspirations futile.