Shloka 14
Parṇāda’s Report; Bāhuka’s Counsel; Damayantī’s Strategic Svayaṃvara Message (अध्याय ६८)
पौर्णमासीमिव निशां राहुग्रस्तनिशाकराम् । पतिशोकाकुलां दीनां शुष्कस्रोतां नदीमिव,विदर्भरूपी सरोवरसे यह कमलिनी मानो प्रारब्धके दोषसे निकाल ली गयी है। इसके मलिन अंग कीचड़ लिपटी हुई नलिनीके समान प्रतीत होते हैं। यह उस पूर्णिमाकी रजनीके समान जान पड़ती है, जिसके चन्द्रमापर मानो राहुने ग्रहण लगा रखा हो। पति-शोकसे व्याकुल और दीन होनेके कारण यह सूखे जल-प्रवाहवाली सरिताके समान प्रतीत होती है
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca |
paurṇamāsīm iva niśāṃ rāhugrastaniśākarām |
patiśokākulāṃ dīnāṃ śuṣkasrotāṃ nadīm iva ||
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “She appears like a full-moon night whose moon has been seized by Rāhu—its radiance eclipsed. Stricken by grief for her husband, distressed and forlorn, she seems like a river whose current has dried up.”
युदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
Suffering can eclipse a person’s natural radiance just as an eclipse obscures the moon; dharma calls for empathy and responsible action toward those overwhelmed by grief, rather than indifference.
Yudhiṣṭhira describes a woman (contextually, the afflicted queen) in vivid similes: her beauty and vitality are dimmed by separation and husband-grief, likened to an eclipsed full-moon night and a river whose flow has dried up.