Shloka 4
Adhyāya 17 — Gandhārī’s Vilāpa at Duryodhana’s Body (स्त्रीपर्व, अध्याय १७)
सुगूढजत्रुविपुलं हारनिष्कविभूषितम् । वारिणा नेत्रजेनोर: सिंचन्ती शोकतापिता,दुर्योधनके गलेकी विशाल हड्डी मांससे छिपी हुई थी। उसने गलेमें हार और निष्क पहन रखे थे। उन आभूषणोंसे विभूषित बेटेके वक्ष:स्थलको आँसुओंसे सींचती हुई गान्धरी शोकाग्निसे संतप्त हो रही थीं
sugūḍhajatrūvipulaṃ hāra-niṣka-vibhūṣitam | vāriṇā netrajena uraḥ siñcantī śokatāpitā ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: Gandhārī, scorched by grief, kept sprinkling with the water of her tears the broad chest of her son—his massive collarbone region hidden beneath flesh—adorned with a necklace and a niṣka (gold ornament).
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the human cost of war: even royal power and ornaments cannot shield one from mortality, and grief exposes the fragility beneath martial pride. It implicitly critiques the pursuit of victory at the expense of kinship and dharma, showing how adharma culminates in irreversible sorrow.
After the Kurukṣetra war, Gandhārī mourns her slain son Duryodhana. She weeps over his body and drenches his chest with tears, while the narrator notes his physical build and the ornaments he still wears, heightening the contrast between former grandeur and present death.