Shloka 1
Adhyāya 8: Saṃprahāra-varṇana and Bhīma–Kṣemadhūrti Dvipa-Yuddha
Combat Description and Elephant Duel
अपन बक। ] अति्ऑशा:< अष्टमो< ध्याय: धृतराष्ट्रका विलाप जनमेजय उवाच श्रुत्वा कर्ण हत॑ युद्धे पुत्रांश्षेव निपातितान् । नरेन्द्र: किंचिदाश्व॒स्तो द्विजश्रेष्ठ किमब्रवीत्,जनमेजय बोले--द्विजश्रेष्ठ! युद्धमें कर्ण मारा गया और पुत्र भी धराशायी हो गये, यह सुनकर अचेत हुए राजा धेृतराष्ट्रको जब पुनः कुछ चेत हुआ, तब उन्होंने क्या कहा?
janamejaya uvāca | śrutvā karṇa-hataṁ yuddhe putrāṁś caiva nipātitān | narendraḥ kiṁcid āśvasto dvija-śreṣṭha kim abravīt ||
Dijo Janamejaya: «Oh, el mejor de los brahmanes, cuando el rey Dhṛtarāṣṭra oyó que Karṇa había sido muerto en batalla y que sus hijos también habían caído, y cuando—tras desvanecerse—recobró un poco la compostura, ¿qué dijo?»
जनमेजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames the ethical weight of war through its immediate human consequence: even a king is undone by grief when confronted with the deaths of allies and children. It prepares the reader to hear Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s lament as a moral reflection on attachment, loss, and the cost of adharma-driven conflict.
Janamejaya asks the Brahmin narrator to report Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s words after he hears that Karṇa has been killed and that his sons have fallen in battle, and after he regains partial composure from shock.