Shloka 47
आयोधनदर्शनम्
Viewing the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra
आसामपरिपूर्णार्थ निशम्य परिदेवितम् | इतरेतरसंक्रन्दान्न विजानन्ति योषित:
āsām aparipūrṇārthaṃ niśamya paridevitam | itaretara-saṃkrandān na vijānanti yoṣitaḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Hearing the lamentations of those women—words broken and incomplete in meaning—while they cried out to one another, the women could scarcely understand what was being said.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how overwhelming grief fractures speech and comprehension: in collective mourning, words become incomplete and mutual cries drown out clear meaning, underscoring the human cost of war.
In the Stree Parva’s mourning scenes after the great battle, the women are wailing and calling to one another; their lament is so broken and tumultuous that they cannot clearly understand each other’s words.