Shloka 12
Gāndhārī’s Lament and the Identification of Duḥśāsana (स्त्रीपर्व, अध्याय १८)
यदिदं धर्मराजेन पातितं नो जनार्दन | न हि नाशो३स्ति वार्ष्णेय कर्मणो: शुभपापयो:,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
yad idaṁ dharmarājena pātitaṁ no janārdana | na hi nāśo 'sti vārṣṇeya karmaṇoḥ śubhapāpayoḥ, anagha ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “O Janārdana, this calamity into which we have been cast by Dharmarāja—O Vārṣṇeya, O sinless one—does not simply vanish. For deeds, whether meritorious or sinful, are not destroyed without their fruits being experienced.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse states the doctrine of karmic inevitability: actions—whether virtuous or sinful—do not perish without yielding their results; suffering is framed as the fruition of prior deeds rather than a random event.
In the Strī Parva’s lamentation context after the war, the speaker addresses Kṛṣṇa and reflects that the women’s present disaster, attributed to Dharmarāja’s actions, must be the unavoidable consequence of accumulated past karma.