Shloka 8
Chapter 10: Survivors Console the Royal Couple and Disperse (धृतराष्ट्र–गान्धारी प्रति निवेदनम्)
अदृष्टपूर्वा या नार्य: पुरा देवगणैरपि । पृथग्जनेन दृश्यन्ते तास्तदा निहतेश्वरा:,जिन स्त्रियोंको पहले कभी देवताओंने भी नहीं देखा था, उनन््हींको उस समय पतियोंके मारे जानेपर साधारण लोग देख रहे थे
adṛṣṭapūrvā yā nāryaḥ purā devagaṇair api | pṛthagjanena dṛśyante tāstadā nihatēśvarāḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Those women who in former times had never been seen even by the hosts of gods were, at that moment—when their lords had been slain—being seen by ordinary people. The verse underscores how war shatters the protective boundaries of royal life and exposes the most sheltered to public gaze through the violence of bereavement.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical cost of war: it destroys protectors and social safeguards, forcing the most secluded and protected—royal women—into public visibility through suffering. It implicitly condemns the violence that overturns dignity and order.
In the aftermath of the great slaughter, women whose lives were formerly hidden from public view are now seen by ordinary people because their husbands (their ‘lords’) have been killed, leaving them unprotected amid the public scene of mourning.