Shloka 3
अौर्ध्वदेहिक-श्राद्धे दानयज्ञविस्तारः | Expansion of the Aurdhvadehika Śrāddha and the Donation-Rite
कथं नु राजा वृद्ध: स वने वसति निर्जने । गान्धारी च महाभागा सा च कुन्ती पृथा कथम्
kathaṁ nu rājā vṛddhaḥ sa vane vasati nirjane | gāndhārī ca mahābhāgā sā ca kuntī pṛthā katham |
“¿Cómo vive, en verdad, aquel rey anciano en el bosque solitario? ¿Y cómo logran pasar sus días allí la noble Gandhārī y Kuntī—Pṛthā?”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds compassionate concern for elders and ascetics: even those once powerful must endure the disciplines of renunciation, and the listener is invited to reflect on duty (dharma) toward aged relatives and on the moral weight of a life that ends in austerity rather than privilege.
Vaiśampāyana reports an anxious question about the post-war life of the Kuru elders: the old king Dhṛtarāṣṭra, along with Gandhārī and Kuntī (Pṛthā), has gone to live in seclusion in the forest, and the speaker wonders how they are managing there.