Shloka 11

Gāndhārī’s Lament and the Identification of Duḥśāsana (स्त्रीपर्व, अध्याय १८)

Devanagari script

अनघ! मैं समझती हूँ कि इन अनिन्द्य सुन्दरी अबलाओंने तथा मन्द बुद्धिवाली मैंने भी पूर्वजन्मोंमें कोई बड़ा भारी पाप किया है, जिसके फलस्वरूप धर्मराजने हमलोगोंको बड़ी भारी विपत्तिमें डाल दिया है। जनार्दन! वृष्णिनन्दन! जान पड़ता है कि किये हुए पुण्य और पापकर्मोंका उनके फलका उपभोग किये बिना नाश नहीं होता है

Transliteration

Anaghe! manye ’nindya-sundaryābhir imābhir abalābhiḥ saha mayā ca manda-buddhyā pūrva-janmasu kiñcid guru pāpaṃ kṛtam, yasya phalena dharma-rājñāsmān mahati vipadi nikṣiptāḥ. Janārdana! vṛṣṇi-nandana! kṛta-puṇya-pāpa-karmāṇāṃ phalaṃ bhuktvā vinā na praṇaśyatīti me pratibhāti.

Translation

“O blameless one! I believe that these faultless, beautiful, helpless women—and I too, of dull understanding—must have committed some very grave sin in former births. As its consequence, King Dharma has cast us into a great calamity. O Janārdana, delight of the Vṛṣṇis! It seems that deeds of merit and sin do not perish until their fruits have been experienced.”

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'anagha', 'definition': 'O sinless/blameless one (vocative address)'}, {'term': 'anindya', 'definition': 'blameless, beyond reproach'}, {'term': 'sundarī', 'definition': 'beautiful woman'}, {'term': 'abalā', 'definition': 'helpless/weak woman

• one without protection'}, {'term': 'manda-buddhi', 'definition': 'of dull understanding

• mentally bewildered'}, {'term': 'pūrva-janman', 'definition': 'former birth, previous life'}, {'term': 'pāpa', 'definition': 'sin, demerit, wrongdoing'}, {'term': 'phala', 'definition': 'fruit/result (of action)'}, {'term': 'dharma-rāja', 'definition': 'King Dharma

• Yudhiṣṭhira'}, {'term': 'vipad', 'definition': 'calamity, misfortune, crisis'}, {'term': 'Janārdana', 'definition': 'epithet of Kṛṣṇa

• ‘chastiser of the wicked/people’'}, {'term': 'vṛṣṇi-nandana', 'definition': 'delight of the Vṛṣṇi clan

• Kṛṣṇa'}, {'term': 'puṇya', 'definition': 'merit, virtuous deed'}, {'term': 'karma', 'definition': 'action

• deed with moral consequence'}, {'term': 'bhoga / bhuktvā', 'definition': 'enjoyment/experience

• ‘having experienced (the result)’'}, {'term': 'naś / praṇaśyati', 'definition': 'to perish, be destroyed

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Janārdana (Kṛṣṇa)
• Vṛṣṇinandana (Kṛṣṇa)
• Dharmarāja (Yudhiṣṭhira)
• the women (widows/helpless women of the slain)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse emphasizes moral causality: actions—whether meritorious or sinful—do not simply vanish; their results must be undergone. Suffering is interpreted through the lens of karma-phala, even when the sufferers appear blameless.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the aftermath of the war, grieving women speak amid overwhelming loss. Addressing Kṛṣṇa (Janārdana, Vṛṣṇinandana), the speaker attributes their present calamity to grave deeds from past lives and reflects that karma’s fruits must be experienced.