Shloka 3
Gaṅgā-tīra Udaka-kriyā and Kuntī’s Disclosure of Karṇa’s Maternity
Strī-parva, Adhyāya 27
पुत्राणामार्यकाणां च पतीनां च कुरुस्त्रिय: । उदकं चक्रिरे सर्वा रुदत्यो भृशदु:खिता:
putrāṇām āryakāṇāṁ ca patīnām ca kurustriyaḥ | udakaṁ cakrire sarvā rudatyo bhṛśaduḥkhitāḥ ||
Vaiśampāyana said: The women of the Kurus, weeping and overwhelmed by intense sorrow, all performed the water-offering rites for their sons, their elders, and their husbands—fulfilling the mournful duties owed to the dead after the devastation of war.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even amid unbearable grief, dharma is upheld through prescribed duties toward the departed—here, the women perform water-offerings, expressing responsibility, remembrance, and respect for familial bonds severed by war.
In the aftermath of the great slaughter, the Kuru women mourn and collectively perform the funerary water-offering rites for those they lost—sons, elders, and husbands—marking the transition from battlefield death to ritual remembrance.