Shloka 36
स्त्री-विलापः — गान्धार्याः रणभूमिदर्शनं शापवचनं च
Battlefield Lament and Gāndhārī’s Curse
कां गतिं तु गमिष्यामि त्वया हीना जनेश्वर । वह कहती है--'प्राणनाथ! सुन्दर हथेली और अंगुलियोंसे युक्त तथा परिघके समान मोटी ये वे ही दोनों भुजाएँ हैं, जिनके भीतर आप मुझे अंकमें भर लेते थे और उस अवस्थामें मुझे जो प्रसन्नता प्राप्त होती थी, उसने पहले कभी मेरा साथ नहीं छोड़ा था। जनेश्वर! अब आपके बिना मेरी क्या गति होगी?”,तयोहहिं दर्शन नैतन्मिथ्या भवितुम्हति । अचिरेणैव मे पुत्रा भस्मी भूता जनार्दन जनार्दन! उन दोनोंकी यह दृष्टि मिथ्या नहीं हो सकती थी; अतः थोड़े ही समयमें मेरे सारे पुत्र युद्धकी आगमें जलकर भस्म हो गये
vaiśaṃpāyana uvāca | kāṃ gatiṃ tu gamiṣyāmi tvayā hīnā janeśvara | tayoḥ hi darśanaṃ na etan mithyā bhavitum arhati | acireṇaiva me putrā bhasmībhūtā janārdana |
Vaiśampāyana said: “O lord of men, what course—what refuge—shall I now attain, bereft of you? This vision of theirs could not possibly be false; therefore, in a very short time, all my sons were burned to ashes in the fire of war, O Janārdana.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the inevitability of consequences in war: prophetic or emotionally charged ‘visions’ are treated as morally weighty truths, and the lament highlights how power and lineage collapse quickly when dharma is shattered by conflict.
In the Strī Parva’s mourning context, a bereaved speaker addresses a ‘lord of men’ and invokes Janārdana, stating that a prior vision could not be false and that, soon after, her sons were consumed—‘burned to ashes’—by the war’s devastation.