Shloka 3
Gāndhārī’s Lament and the Identification of Duḥśāsana (स्त्रीपर्व, अध्याय १८)
प्रासादतलचारिण्यश्वरणैर्भूषणान्वितै: । आपन्ना यत् स्पृशन्तीमां रुधिराद्रां वसुन्धराम्,ये महलकी अट्टालिकाओंमें आभूषणभूषित चरणोंद्वारा विचरण करनेवाली थीं; परंतु आज विपत्तिकी मारी हुई ये इस खूनसे भीगी हुई वसुधाका स्पर्श कर रही हैं
prāsādatala-cāriṇyaś caraṇair bhūṣaṇānvitaiḥ | āpannā yat spṛśantīmāṁ rudhirādrāṁ vasundharām ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “Those women who once moved about on palace terraces with feet adorned by ornaments are now, struck by calamity, touching this earth soaked with blood.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the fragility of worldly status: those accustomed to refined palace life are brought low by the catastrophe of war, highlighting the ethical cost of violence and the impermanence of prosperity.
In the aftermath of the Kurukṣetra war, the narrator describes the royal women—once walking on palace terraces with ornamented feet—now forced by calamity to tread and touch the blood-wet ground, intensifying the scene of collective mourning.