Shloka 37
स्त्रीपर्व — अध्याय १५: गान्धारी-युधिष्ठिर-संवादः
Gandhārī’s Confrontation and Consolation of Yudhiṣṭhira
बारी-बारीसे पुत्रोंके शरीरपर बारंबार हाथ फेरती हुई कुन्ती दुःखसे आतुर हो उस द्रौपदीके लिये शोक करने लगीं, जिसके सभी पुत्र मारे गये थे। इतनेमें ही उन्होंने देखा कि द्रौपदी पास ही पृथ्वीपर गिरकर रो रही है ।। द्रौपहयुवाच आर्य पौत्रा: क््व ते सर्वे सौभद्रसहिता गता: । नत्वां तेड्द्याभिगच्छन्ति चिरं दृष्टया तपस्विनीम्
vaiśampāyana uvāca |
bāri-bārīse putrāṇāṃ śarīrapar bārambār hāth pheratī huī kuntī duḥkhase ātur ho us draupadīke liye śoka karane lagīṃ, jiske sabhī putra māre gaye the | itane meṃ hī unhoṃne dekhā ki draupadī pās hī pṛthvīpar girkar ro rahī hai ||
draupady uvāca |
ārya pautrāḥ kva te sarve saubhadra-sahitā gatāḥ |
na tvāṃ te ’dya abhigacchanti ciraṃ dṛṣṭvā tapasvinīm ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Kuntī, repeatedly stroking the bodies of her sons again and again, overwhelmed by grief, began to lament for Draupadī—she whose sons had all been slain. Just then she saw Draupadī nearby, fallen upon the earth and weeping. Draupadī said: “Noble lady, where have all your grandsons gone, together with the son of Subhadrā? Why do they not come to you today, after seeing you—an ascetic woman—after so long?”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the ethical weight of war’s aftermath: even the victorious are consumed by grief. It underscores impermanence and the dharmic call to compassion—mourning is shared, and suffering does not discriminate between sides or households.
In the Strī Parva’s lamentation scenes, Kuntī, overwhelmed, touches her sons’ bodies in repeated grief. She then notices Draupadī collapsed on the ground weeping. Draupadī addresses Kuntī, asking where Kuntī’s grandsons have gone, along with Saubhadra (Abhimanyu), and why they do not come to meet her after so long.