Shloka 23
इस प्रकार श्रीमह्याभारत विराटपर्वके अन्तर्गत कीचकवधपर्वमें तेईसवाँ अध्याय पूरा हुआ,बुह्॒त्न॒लोवाच बृहन्नलापि कल्याणि दुः:खमाप्रोत्यनुत्तमम् । तिर्यग्योनिगता बाले न चैनामवबुध्यसे बृहन्नलाने कहा--कल्याणी! पशुओंकी-सी नीच या नपुंसक योनिमें पड़कर बृहन्नला भी महान् दुःख भोग रही है, तू अभी भोली-भाली है; इसीलिये बृहन्नलाको नहीं समझ पाती
bṛhannalovāca—bṛhannalāpi kalyāṇi duḥkham āproty anuttamam | tiryagyonigatā bāle na cainām avabudhyase ||
Bṛhannalā said: “O auspicious girl, even I—Bṛhannalā—have fallen into an exceedingly painful condition. Having come to a low state, like that of animals (a degraded condition), you are still innocent; therefore you do not truly understand who I am.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical weight of hidden suffering: a person may endure intense humiliation or hardship under a disguise or degraded condition, and outsiders—especially the innocent—may fail to recognize the depth of that pain or the person’s true identity.
Bṛhannalā (Arjuna in concealment during the Pāṇḍavas’ incognito year) speaks to a young woman, explaining that she too bears extreme suffering by being forced into a low, socially diminished condition, and that the listener does not yet understand her true situation/identity.