Shloka 9

Chapter 10: Survivors Console the Royal Couple and Disperse (धृतराष्ट्र–गान्धारी प्रति निवेदनम्)

Devanagari script

इस प्रकार श्रीमह्ाभारत स्त्रीपर्वके अन्तर्गत जलप्रदानिकपर्वमें विदुरजीका वाक्यविषयक नवाँ अध्याय पूरा हुआ,प्रकीर्य केशान्‌ सुशुभान्‌ भूषणान्यवमुच्य च । एकवस्त्रधरा नार्य: परिपेतुरनाथवत्‌ वे नारियाँ अपने सुन्दर केश बिखराये सारे आभूषण उतारकर एक ही वस्त्र धारण किये अनाथकी भाँति रणभूमिकी ओर जा रही थीं

Transliteration

prakīrya keśān suśubhān bhūṣaṇāny avamucya ca | ekavastradharā nāryaḥ paripetur anāthavat ||

Translation

Having loosened and scattered their beautiful hair and casting off their ornaments, the women—clad in a single garment—wandered about like the helpless, moving toward the battlefield. The scene underscores how war strips away dignity and protection, leaving even the innocent exposed to grief and social vulnerability.

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'prakīrya', 'definition': 'having scattered/loosened (especially hair)

• a gesture of mourning and distress'}, {'term': 'keśān', 'definition': 'hair (accusative plural)'}, {'term': 'suśubhān', 'definition': 'very beautiful, lovely'}, {'term': 'bhūṣaṇāni', 'definition': 'ornaments, jewelry'}, {'term': 'avamucya', 'definition': 'having taken off, having removed'}, {'term': 'ekavastradharāḥ', 'definition': 'wearing a single garment

• minimally clothed, signifying bereavement and destitution'}, {'term': 'nāryaḥ', 'definition': 'women'}, {'term': 'paripetuḥ', 'definition': 'they wandered about, roamed (perfect/preterite plural)'}, {'term': 'anāthavat', 'definition': 'like those without a protector

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• nāryaḥ (women)
• keśāḥ (hair)
• bhūṣaṇāni (ornaments)
• raṇabhūmi (battlefield, implied by context)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the human cost of war: it destroys social order and protection, leaving the vulnerable—especially women—bereft of security and dignity. The removal of ornaments and disheveled hair function as cultural signs of mourning and the collapse of normal life.

What is happening in the narrative?

After the great slaughter, women go toward the battlefield in grief. They loosen their hair, remove jewelry, and wear only a single garment, wandering helplessly as they search amid the aftermath—an image of collective bereavement in the Strīparvan.