Shloka 15
Strī-parva Adhyāya 22 — Gāndhārī’s Battlefield Lament for the Fallen (Āvantya, Bāhlika, Jayadratha, and Duḥśalā)
कि नु दुःखतरं कृष्ण परं मम भविष्यति । यत् सुता विधवा बाला स्नुषाश्न निहतेश्वरा:,श्रीकृष्ण! मेरे लिये इससे बढ़कर महान् दुःखकी बात और क्या होगी कि यह छोटी अवस्थाकी मेरी बेटी विधवा हो गयी तथा मेरी सारी पुत्रवधुएँ भी अनाथा हो गयीं
ki nu duḥkhataraṃ kṛṣṇa paraṃ mama bhaviṣyati | yat sutā vidhavā bālā snuṣāś ca nihateśvarāḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “O Kṛṣṇa, what sorrow could ever be greater for me than this—that my young daughter has become a widow, and that all my daughters-in-law have been left without their lords?”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the ethical and human cost of war: beyond victory or defeat, the deepest suffering falls on families—especially women and the young—who are left widowed and unprotected. It invites reflection on dharma by showing how violence fractures social and familial order.
In the Strī Parva’s mourning context after the great slaughter, the speaker addresses Kṛṣṇa and voices an overwhelming lament: a young daughter has become a widow, and the daughters-in-law have lost their husbands, intensifying the collective grief in the aftermath of the Kurukṣetra war.