Shloka 8
Brahmāstra-pratisaṃhāraḥ, Parīkṣit-nāmakaraṇam, Nagarotsava-varṇanam
Withdrawal of the Brahmāstra; Naming of Parīkṣit; Description of Civic Festivities
याहं त्वया विनाद्येह पत्या पुत्रेण चैव ह । मर्तव्ये सति जीवामि हतस्वस्तिरकिंचना
yāhaṃ tvayā vinādyeha patyā putreṇa caiva ha | martavye sati jīvāmi hatasvastir akiñcanā ||
“Here and now, without you—without my husband and my son—though death is what should have come to me, I still go on living, stripped of all auspiciousness and left with nothing.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse voices the ethical and emotional weight of bereavement: when one’s sustaining relationships (husband and son) are gone, life can feel like an undeserved remainder—“living when one should have died.” It highlights how auspiciousness (svasti) and social-security structures in dharma-based life are tied to family bonds, and how their loss produces a sense of emptiness and dislocation.
In Vaiśampāyana’s narration, a bereaved woman laments that she continues to live despite the loss of her husband and son. She describes herself as deprived of all good fortune and left destitute, expressing the stark aftermath of violence and the collapse of her former support and identity.