Shloka 72
Kṛṣṇa at Duryodhana’s House: Refusal of Hospitality and Departure to Vidura (कृष्णस्य धार्तराष्ट्रनिवेशनगमनम्)
जीवनाशं प्रणष्टानां श्राद्ध कुर्वन्ति मानवा: । अर्थतस्ते मम मृतास्तेषां चाहं जनार्दन,“जनार्दन! जो लोग प्राणोंका नाश होनेसे अदृश्य होते हैं, उनके लिये मनुष्य श्राद्ध करते हैं। यदि मृत्युका अर्थ अदृश्य हो जाना ही है तो मेरे लिये पाण्डव मर गये हैं और मैं भी उनके लिये मर चुकी हूँ
vaiśampāyana uvāca |
jīvanāśaṃ praṇaṣṭānāṃ śrāddhaṃ kurvanti mānavāḥ |
arthataste mama mṛtāsteṣāṃ cāhaṃ janārdana ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “For those who have vanished through the loss of life, people perform the śrāddha rites. If ‘death’ truly means nothing more than becoming unseen, then, in that sense, the Pāṇḍavas are already dead to me—and I too am as good as dead for them, O Janārdana.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how social-ritual definitions (like performing śrāddha for the ‘departed’) can be used to express an ethical-emotional truth: when loved ones are effectively unreachable or ‘as good as gone,’ the pain of separation can feel like death itself.
In the Udyoga Parva’s tense pre-war setting, the speaker addresses Janārdana (Kṛṣṇa) and argues that if death is understood as becoming unseen or inaccessible, then the Pāṇḍavas are effectively ‘dead’ to her—underscoring despair and the gravity of the rupture caused by the conflict.