Shloka 24
Babhruvāhana’s Lament and Appeal for Expiation (प्रायश्चित्त-याचना)
यत्र नाहं न मे माता विप्रयुज्येत जीवितात्,“तभी तो इस संकटके समय भी मेरे और मेरी माताके प्राण नहीं निकलते। हाय! हाय! मुझे धिककार है, लोगों! देख लो! मुझ पुत्रके द्वारा मारे गये कुरुवीर अर्जुनका सुनहरा कवच यहाँ पृथ्वीपर फेंका पड़ा है”
yatra nāhaṁ na me mātā viprayujyeta jīvitāt |
Vaiśampāyana said: “In such a crisis, neither I nor my mother is separated from life—alas, alas! Shame on me! People, look! Here on the ground lies the golden armour of the Kuru hero Arjuna, cast down—slain by me, his own son.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical shock of violence within one’s own lineage: even when events are driven by duty or circumstance, the moral weight of harming kin produces profound remorse and self-reproach, urging reflection on dharma, restraint, and the tragic costs of war.
Within Vaiśampāyana’s narration, a lament is voiced in which the speaker says that in this crisis he and his mother still live, yet he condemns himself and points to Arjuna’s golden armour lying on the earth—signifying that Arjuna, the Kuru hero, has been struck down by his own son.