Shloka 6
अभिमन्युविलापः (Abhimanyu-vilāpa) — Uttarā’s lament, observed and framed by Gandhārī
तस्य वकक्त्रमुपाप्राय सौभद्रस्य मनस्विनी । विबुद्धकमलाकारं कम्बुवृत्तशिरोधरम्,सुभद्राकुमारका मुख प्रफुल्ल कमलके समान शोभा पाता है। उसकी ग्रीवा शंखके समान और गोल है। कमनीय रूप-सौन्दर्यसे सुशोभित माननीय एवं मनस्विनी उत्तरा पतिके मुखारविन्दको सूँघकर उसे गलेसे लगा रही है। पहले भी यह इसी प्रकार मधुके मदसे अचेत हो सलज्जभावसे उसका आलिंगन करती रही होगी
tasya vaktram upāprāya saubhadrasya manasvinī | vibuddha-kamalākāraṁ kambuvṛtta-śirodharam ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Drawing close to the face of Saubhadra (Abhimanyu), the noble-minded Uttarā—beholding it like a fully opened lotus and his neck rounded like a conch—smelled that lotus-like face and clasped him to her breast. The scene conveys the intimate, helpless grief of a young wife in the aftermath of war, where love and propriety are overwhelmed by bereavement and the moral cost of violence becomes palpable.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the human cost of adharma and war: even when political aims are achieved, the aftermath is filled with intimate suffering. It invites ethical reflection on violence by showing grief not as abstract tragedy but as personal, embodied loss.
Uttarā, Abhimanyu’s wife, approaches his face, described with lotus-and-conch imagery, and embraces him in a gesture of intense mourning and attachment, highlighting the sorrow that pervades the Strī Parva after the great battle.