Shloka 9
Gandhārī’s Lament for Bhūriśravas and Śakuni
Book 11, Chapter 24
शलं विनिहतं संख्ये भूरिश्रवसमेव च । स््नुषाश्न विविधा: सर्वा दिष्ट्या नाद्येह पश्यसि,“अहो! आपका बड़ा भाग्य है कि अर्जुनने जिसकी एक बाँह काट ली थी और सात्यकिने जिसे मार गिराया था, युद्धमें मारे गये उस भूरिश्रवा और शलको आप हिंसक जन्तुओंका आहार बनते नहीं देखते हैं तथा इन सब अनेक प्रकारके रूप-रंगवाली पुत्रवधुओंको भी आज यहाँ रणभूमिमें भटकती हुई नहीं देख रहे हैं
śalaṃ vinihataṃ saṅkhye bhūriśravasam eva ca | snuṣāś ca vividhāḥ sarvā diṣṭyā nādyeha paśyasi ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “By good fortune you do not see here today—on this battlefield—Śala, slain in the fight, nor Bhūriśravas as well; and likewise you do not see all these daughters-in-law of varied appearance, wandering about here. (For otherwise you would behold them reduced to the misery of war, exposed to the fate of becoming prey for violent creatures.)”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the moral horror of war’s aftermath: death, desecration, and the suffering of women left vulnerable. It frames the absence of such sights as “good fortune,” highlighting compassion and the ethical weight of violence beyond the moment of combat.
Vaiśampāyana describes the battlefield scene in the Strī-parvan context, noting that the listener does not presently witness the slain warriors Śala and Bhūriśravas, nor the distressed daughters-in-law wandering there—images that would intensify the lamentation over the war’s devastation.