Shloka 6
स्त्री-विलापः — गान्धार्याः रणभूमिदर्शनं शापवचनं च
Battlefield Lament and Gāndhārī’s Curse
शयानमभित: शूरं कालिज्ुं मधुसूदन । पश्य दीप्ताड्भदयुगप्रतिनद्धमहाभुजम्,मधुसूदन! देखो, पास ही वह शूरवीर कलिंगराज सो रहा है, जिसकी दोनों विशाल भुजाओंमें चमकीले अंगद (बाजूबन्द) बँधे हुए हैं
vaiśampāyana uvāca |
śayānam abhitaḥ śūraṃ kāliṅgaṃ madhusūdana |
paśya dīptāṅgadayuga-pratinaddha-mahābhujam ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “O Madhusūdana, look—nearby lies the heroic king of Kaliṅga, resting there, his mighty arms adorned with a pair of gleaming armlets.” In the grim aftermath of war, the verse draws attention to a fallen or exhausted warrior not with contempt but with a sober recognition of valor and the costly dignity of those caught in the conflict.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even amid devastation, the narrative preserves an ethical gaze: it acknowledges the warrior’s valor and human dignity, reminding the listener that war reduces the mighty to silence and rest, and that triumph is inseparable from loss.
The narrator points out to Kṛṣṇa (Madhusūdana) a heroic figure—the king of Kaliṅga—lying nearby, identifiable by his powerful arms and shining armlets, as part of the scene of bodies and survivors in the post-war landscape of the Strī Parva.