Shloka 18
धिगस्तु क्रूरकर्तृस्तान् कृपकर्णजयद्रथान् । द्रोणद्रौणायनी चोभौ यैरहं विधवा कृता,“उन क्रूरकर्मा कृपाचार्य, कर्ण और जयद्रथको धिक्कार है, द्रोणाचार्य और उनके पुत्रको भी धिक््कार है! जिन्होंने मुझे इसी उम्रमें विधवा बना दिया
dhig astu krūrakartṝs tān kṛpakarṇajayadrathān | droṇadroṇāyanī cobhau yair ahaṃ vidhavā kṛtā ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “Shame upon those doers of cruel deeds—Kṛpa, Karṇa, and Jayadratha! Shame also upon Droṇa and his son! It is by them that I have been made a widow while still in my youth.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the moral shock of war’s consequences: even celebrated warriors become objects of blame when their actions produce irreversible suffering, such as the premature widowhood of women. It highlights how adharma is experienced not as theory but as lived grief and social devastation.
In the Stree Parva’s lamentation scenes after the Kurukṣetra war, a bereaved woman (speaking within Vaiśampāyana’s narration) denounces key Kaurava-side figures—Kṛpa, Karṇa, Jayadratha, Droṇa, and Droṇa’s son Aśvatthāman—holding them responsible for the death of her husband and thus her becoming a widow.