Shloka 12
Gandhārī’s Lament for Bhūriśravas and Śakuni
Book 11, Chapter 24
एता विलप्य करुणं भर्तृशोकेन कर्शिता: । पतन्त्यभिमुखा भूमौ कृपणं बत केशव,केशव! पतिशोकसे पीड़ित हुई ये अबलाएँ करुणाजनक विलाप करके पतिके सामने अत्यन्त दुःखसे पछाड़ खा-खाकर गिर रही हैं
etā vilapya karuṇaṁ bhartṛśokena karśitāḥ | patanty abhimukhā bhūmau kṛpaṇaṁ bata keśava keśava ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “These women, wasted by grief for their husbands, lament piteously and, falling forward to the ground before their lords, collapse again and again in utter misery—alas, O Keśava, O Keśava!”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the ethical aftermath of war: beyond victory and defeat lies the suffering of innocents. By addressing Keśava, it implicitly calls for compassion, responsibility, and sober reflection on the human cost that adharma and even contested dharma-yuddha can produce.
In the Strī Parva’s mourning scenes after the Kurukṣetra war, the bereaved women, crushed by grief for their slain husbands, wail and repeatedly collapse to the ground before the bodies of their lords. The cry “Keśava, Keśava” heightens the pathos and appeals to Kṛṣṇa as witness and moral center.