Shloka 18
पश्यैता: पुण्डरीकाक्ष स्नुषा मे निहतेश्वरा: । प्रकीर्णकेशा: क्रोशन्ती: कुररीरिव माधव,“कमलनयन माधव! मेरी इन विधवा पुत्रवधुओंकी ओर देखो, जो केश बिखराये कुररीकी भाँति विलाप कर रही हैं
vaiśampāyana uvāca | paśyaitāḥ puṇḍarīkākṣa snuṣā me nihatēśvarāḥ | prakīrṇakeśāḥ krośantyaḥ kurarīr iva mādhava ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “O lotus-eyed Mādhava, look at these daughters-in-law of mine—now widowed, their lords slain. With their hair dishevelled they cry out, wailing like kurarī-birds.” The verse foregrounds the moral aftermath of war: beyond victory and defeat, the true cost is borne by the bereaved, whose public lament becomes an ethical indictment of violence and a call to compassionate witnessing.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the ethical reality that war’s consequences extend to innocent survivors—especially widows—whose suffering demands compassionate attention. It implicitly critiques triumphalism and urges dharmic sensitivity to the human cost of violence.
In the Strī Parva’s mourning scenes after the Kurukṣetra war, the speaker points out the widowed daughters-in-law, dishevelled and crying loudly, and addresses Mādhava (Kṛṣṇa) to witness their lament—likened to the plaintive cries of kurarī-birds.