Shloka 653
कृशाश्चासन् प्रजा: सर्वा: क्षीयमाणे निशाकरे । ओषधियोंके क्षीण होनेसे समस्त प्राणियोंका भी क्षय होने लगा। इस प्रकार चन्द्रमाके क्षयके साथ-साथ सारी प्रजा अत्यन्त दुर्बल हो गयी
kṛśāś cāsan prajāḥ sarvāḥ kṣīyamāṇe niśākare | oṣadhīnāṃ kṣīṇa-bhāvena samastānāṃ prāṇināṃ kṣayo 'py abhavat | evaṃ candramasaḥ kṣayena saha sarvā prajā 'tyanta-durbalā babhūva |
Vaiśampāyana said: As the moon waned, all the people grew thin and weak. With the decline of the medicinal herbs, the living beings too began to waste away. Thus, in step with the moon’s diminution, the whole populace became exceedingly enfeebled—an image of how the weakening of a sustaining order brings suffering to all.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights interdependence: when a sustaining cosmic factor (the moon, linked with nourishment and herbs) declines, life that depends on it also declines. Ethically, it underscores that disorder in the larger system—natural or moral—spreads suffering widely, not selectively.
The narrator describes a grim condition: as the moon wanes, medicinal herbs lose potency and the populace grows emaciated. It functions as a portent-like depiction of widespread depletion and distress surrounding the events of the war.