Shloka 13
अध्याय २१ — गान्धार्या वैकर्तनदर्शनम्
Gāndhārī’s Viewing of Vaikartana/Karṇa
अल्पावशेषो<पि कृतो महात्मा शरीरभक्षै: परिभक्षयद्धिः । द्रष्ट न नः प्रीतिकर: शशीव कृष्णस्य पक्षस्य चतुर्दशाहे,मानव-शरीरका भ्क्षण करनेवाले जन्तुओंने खा-खाकर महामना कर्णके शरीरको थोड़ा-सा ही शेष रहने दिया है। उसका यह अल्पावशेष शरीर कृष्णपक्षकी चतुर्दशीके चन्द्रमाकी भाँति देखनेपर हमलोगोंको प्रसन्नता नहीं प्रदान करता है
Vaiśampāyana uvāca — alpāvaśeṣo ’pi kṛto mahātmā śarīrabhakṣaiḥ paribhakṣyamāṇaḥ | dṛṣṭo na naḥ prītikaraḥ śaśīva kṛṣṇapakṣasya caturdaśāhe ||
Vaiśampāyana said: Though only a small remnant of that great-souled one remained—his body having been repeatedly devoured by creatures that feed on corpses—what we saw gave us no joy. Like the moon on the fourteenth night of the dark fortnight, his diminished form, when beheld, could not bring us gladness. The verse underscores the ethical horror of war’s aftermath: even the mighty are reduced to pitiable remnants, and the sight becomes a moral wound rather than a triumph.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the moral and emotional devastation that follows war: even a ‘great-souled’ hero is reduced to a pitiable remnant, and the sight brings no satisfaction—only grief and revulsion—underscoring impermanence and the ethical cost of violence.
In the lament-filled context of the Strī Parva, the narrator describes the post-battle scene: the fallen hero’s body has been eaten by carrion creatures, leaving only a small remainder, and the onlookers find the sight as joyless as the waning moon on the dark fortnight’s fourteenth night.