Shloka 33
विराटको उन विहंगमोंद्वारा नोचे जाते देख कजरारी आँखोंवाली उनकी रानियाँ आतुर हो-होकर उन्हें हटानेकी चेष्टा करती हैं, पर हटा नहीं पाती हैं ।। आसामातपततप्तानामायासेन च योषिताम् | श्रमेण च विवर्णानां वकत्राणां विप्लुतं वपु:,इन युवतियोंके मुखारविन्द धूपसे तप गये हैं, आयास और परिश्रमसे उनके रंग फीके पड़ गये हैं
āśāmātapataptānām āyāsena ca yoṣitām | śrameṇa ca vivarṇānāṁ vaktrāṇāṁ viplutaṁ vapuḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Seeing Virāṭa being torn by those birds, his dark-eyed queens, in desperate haste, tried to drive them off but could not. The young women’s lotus-like faces were scorched by the sun’s heat; and from exertion and fatigue their complexions had faded, so that their bodily appearance became marred and disordered. The scene underscores the women’s helplessness amid the aftermath of war, where even their efforts to act are overwhelmed by circumstance.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the tangible, bodily toll of catastrophe on innocent people—especially women in the war’s aftermath—inviting compassion and ethical reflection on the real human cost of violence beyond the battlefield.
Vaiśampāyana describes women who, in distress and agitation, have been exposed to harsh sunlight and have exerted themselves; their faces are sunburnt and their complexions have turned pale from fatigue, making their appearance visibly disordered.