Shloka 16
स्त्रीपर्व — गान्धारीविलापः
Strī Parva — Gāndhārī’s Lament over the Fallen
प्रविश्य समरे शूर: पाण्डवानामनीकिनीम् | स वीरशयमने शेते पर: सत्पुरुषोचिते,जो शूरवीर समरांगणमें पाण्डवोंकी सेनाके भीतर घुसकर लोहा लेता था, वही आज सत्पुरुषोचित वीरशय्यापर शयन कर रहा है
praviśya samare śūraḥ pāṇḍavānām anīkinīm | sa vīraśayyam āne śete paraḥ satpuruṣocite ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “That hero who, entering the battle, would break into the Pāṇḍavas’ army and win glory by force of arms—he now lies upon a warrior’s bed, a resting-place befitting a noble and righteous man (satpuruṣa).” The verse contrasts battlefield ferocity with the dignified, ethically charged stillness of death, underscoring how valor is ultimately measured by the honorable end and the ideals of the ‘good man’.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical ideal that true valor culminates in an honorable end: the same warrior who was fierce in combat is now portrayed as resting on a ‘vīraśayyā,’ a dignified death-bed suited to a satpuruṣa (noble person). It frames death not merely as defeat but as a moral reckoning of one’s warrior-life.
In the Strī Parva’s lamentation context after the war, the narrator points to a fallen hero: once he penetrated deep into the Pandavas’ battle formation and fought fiercely; now he lies motionless on the warrior’s bed, emphasizing the reversal from action to stillness and inviting reflection on the cost of war.