Shloka 12
Uttanka’s Inquiry and Vāsudeva’s Adhyātma Exposition
Guṇa–Ritual–Immanence Teaching
कच्चित् पाण्डुसुता: पञठ्च धृतराष्ट्रस्य चात्मजा: । लोकेषु विहरिष्यन्ति त्वयवा सह परंतप
kaccit pāṇḍusutāḥ pañca dhṛtarāṣṭrasya cātmajāḥ | lokeṣu viharīṣyanti tvayā vā saha parantapa ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “Do the five sons of Pāṇḍu, and the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra as well, still move about in the world—either together with you or under your protection, O scorcher of foes?”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a dharmic concern for the continuity of social and political order after catastrophe: it asks whether the principal royal lineages (Pāṇḍavas and Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s sons) still ‘move in the world’—i.e., whether life, governance, and responsibility continue, and whether former enemies can exist under protection or in association, pointing to the ethical priority of stability and reconciliation after war.
Vaiśampāyana reports a question posed in the Ashvamedhika context, where attention turns from battle to the state of survivors and the realm. The speaker inquires about the present condition and public life of the five Pāṇḍavas and also Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s sons, asking whether they are still living and moving among people, possibly together with—or safeguarded by—the addressed hero (‘parantapa’).