Shloka 21
स्त्रीपर्व — अध्याय १५: गान्धारी-युधिष्ठिर-संवादः
Gandhārī’s Confrontation and Consolation of Yudhiṣṭhira
गान्धायुवाच वृद्धस्यास्य शतं पुत्रान् निध्नंस्त्वमपराजित: । कस्मान्नाशेषय: कंचिद् येनाल्पमराधितम्,गान्धारी बोलीं--बेटा! तुम अपराजित वीर हो। तुमने इन बूढ़े महाराजके सौ पुत्रोंको मारते समय किसी एकको भी, जिसने बहुत थोड़ा अपराध किया था, क्यों नहीं जीवित छोड़ दिया?
Gāndhāry uvāca: vṛddhasyāsya śataṁ putrān nighnans tvam aparājitaḥ | kasmān nāśeṣayaḥ kañcid yena alpam arādhitam ||
Gandhari said: “O unconquered hero, as you struck down the hundred sons of this aged king, why did you not spare even a single one—someone whose wrongdoing was only slight?”
भीमसेन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the ethical tension between total retribution and measured justice: Gandhari challenges the annihilation of an entire lineage and asks whether even one minimally culpable person could have been spared, raising questions about proportionality, mercy, and responsibility in war.
In the Strī Parva’s lamentation setting after the war, Gandhari—grieving mother of the Kauravas—addresses Bhima, calling him invincible, and reproaches him for killing all of Dhritarashtra’s hundred sons without sparing even one who might have committed only a slight offense.