Shloka 9
अपश्यन्तश्न॒ पितरौ कथमूषुर्महावने । “तात! वे बचपनमें ही पिताके प्यारसे वंचित हो गये थे। मैंने ही सदा उनका लालन- पालन किया। मेरे पुत्र सिंह, व्याप्र और हाथियोंसे भरे हुए उस विशाल वनमें कैसे रहे होंगे? माता-पिताको न देखते हुए उन्होंने उस महान् वनमें किस प्रकार निवास किया होगा? ।। शड्खदुन्दुभिनिर्धोषिमदज्जै्वेणुनिस्चनै:
apasyantaś ca pitarau katham ūṣur mahāvane | “tāta! te bacapanam eva pitṛ-snehena vañcitā abhavan | mayā eva sadā teṣāṁ lālana-pālanaṁ kṛtam | mama putrāḥ siṁha-vyāghra-hasti-saṅkule tasmin viśāle vane kathaṁ nivasanty abhavan? mātā-pitarau na paśyantaḥ te mahāvane kathaṁ vāsaṁ kṛtavantaḥ?” || śaṅkha-dundubhi-nirdhoṣi-madājya-veṇu-niśvanaiḥ
Vaiśampāyana said: “Not seeing their father and mother, how could they have lived in that great forest? ‘Dear one! From childhood they were deprived of a father’s affection; I alone always nurtured and protected them. How could my sons have endured that vast wilderness, crowded with lions, tigers, and elephants? Without the sight of their parents, how could they have made their dwelling in that mighty forest?’—and the forest resounded with the din of conches and kettledrums, with the blare of trumpets, and with the whistling of flutes.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the ethical weight of parental responsibility and compassion: deprivation of parental presence is portrayed as a profound hardship, and the caregiver’s duty (lālana-pālana) becomes a moral claim that intensifies grief and concern for the vulnerable.
Vaiśampāyana reports a lament: someone reflects that the children, deprived of a father’s love and unable to see their parents, must have suffered terribly while living in a vast forest filled with dangerous animals; the scene is framed amid loud martial or ceremonial sounds—conches, drums, and wind instruments—suggesting a charged public setting.