Shloka 42
तेषां क्षुधापरीतानां नष्टा वेदाभिधावताम्
teṣāṁ kṣudhāparītānāṁ naṣṭā vedābhidhāvatām
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: For those men, overwhelmed by hunger and running about in search of sustenance, their sense of the Veda—its remembered learning and guiding clarity—was lost. In the extremity of need, even sacred knowledge can be eclipsed, showing how bodily distress can shake discipline and ethical steadiness.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how severe physical deprivation—especially hunger—can overpower memory, discipline, and moral-spiritual orientation. It cautions that sustaining dharma often requires addressing basic human needs; otherwise, even learned people may lose clarity and restraint.
In the aftermath and strain of war, certain people are depicted as afflicted by hunger and rushing about for relief. In that desperate state, their Vedic learning/awareness is said to have been lost—an image of social and inner disintegration under extreme hardship.