Shloka 32
Adhyāya 17 — Gandhārī’s Vilāpa at Duryodhana’s Body (स्त्रीपर्व, अध्याय १७)
यदि सत्यागमा: सन्ति यदि वै श्रुतयस्तथा । ध्रुव॑ं लोकानवाप्तो<यं नूपो बाहुबलार्जितान्,“श्रीकृष्ण! यदि वेद-शास्त्र सत्य हैं तो मेरा पुत्र यह राजा दुर्योधन निश्चय ही अपने बाहुबलसे प्राप्त हुए पुण्यमय लोकोंमें गया है"
yadi satyāgamāḥ santi yadi vai śrutayas tathā | dhruvaṁ lokān avāpto ’yaṁ nṛpo bāhubalārjitān ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “If the sacred traditions are true, and if the Vedas indeed speak truth, then this king—having won them by the strength of his own arms—has certainly attained those worlds (of merit).”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse appeals to the authority of śruti and āgama to affirm that outcomes after death follow established moral-cosmic law: if scripture is reliable, then a warrior-king who has earned merit through his kṣatriya exertion is assured of attaining the corresponding realms. It highlights the tension between grief-driven moral judgment and scriptural/ritual conceptions of merit.
In the aftermath of the Kurukṣetra war (Strī Parva), the discourse turns to the fate of the slain and the meaning of their deaths. The speaker frames an argument—grounded in Vedic authority—that the king in question has certainly reached meritorious worlds gained through martial prowess, even as survivors struggle to reconcile loss, blame, and dharma.