Shloka 11
अभिमन्युविलापः (Abhimanyu-vilāpa) — Uttarā’s lament, observed and framed by Gandhārī
अत्यन्तं सुकुमारस्य राड़ुकवाजिनशायिन: । कच्चिदद्य शरीरं ते भूमौ न परितप्यते,(श्रीकृष्ण! अब उत्तरा अपने पतिको सम्बोधित करके कहती है) 'प्रियतम! आपका शरीर तो अत्यन्त सुकुमार है। आप रंकुमृगके चर्मसे बने हुए सुकोमल बिछौनेपर सोया करते थे। क्या आज इस तरह पृथ्वीपर पड़े रहनेसे आपके शरीरको कष्ट नहीं होता है?
atyantaṁ sukumārasya rāṅkava-ajina-śāyinaḥ | kaccid adya śarīraṁ te bhūmau na paritapyate ||
Vaiśampāyana said: (Here Uttarā, addressing her husband, laments:) “Beloved, your body is exceedingly delicate. You were accustomed to resting on soft bedding made of ruru-deerskin. Does your body not suffer today, lying thus upon the bare earth?” The verse underscores the cruelty of war’s aftermath: even the most cherished and gently raised are reduced to the same hard ground, intensifying the moral grief of the survivors.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights compassion and the ethical shock of war’s consequences: a life once protected by comfort is now exposed to suffering on the bare earth, prompting reflection on the human cost of violence and the duty to mourn and remember rightly.
In Strī Parva’s lamentation setting, Uttarā addresses her fallen husband (contextually Abhimanyu), recalling his delicate upbringing and asking whether his body suffers lying on the ground—an expression of intimate grief amid the battlefield’s aftermath.