Shloka 9
धृतराष्ट्रस्य मूर्च्छा—व्यासोपदेशः
Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Collapse and Vyāsa’s Counsel
“उस दुःखसे सारा शरीर जलने लगता है, बुद्धि नष्ट हो जाती है और उस असहा शोकसे पीड़ित हुआ पुरुष जीनेकी अपेक्षा मर जाना अधिक अच्छा समझता है ।। तदिदं व्यसन प्राप्त मया भाग्यविपर्ययात् । तस्यान्तं नाधिगच्छामि ऋते प्राणविमोक्षणात्,“आज भाग्यके फेरसे वही यह स्वजनोंके विनाशका महान् दुःख मुझे प्राप्त हुआ है। अब प्राण त्याग देनेके सिवा और किसी उपायद्वारा मैं इस दुःखसे पार नहीं पा सकता
tad idaṃ vyasanaṃ prāptaṃ mayā bhāgyaviparyayāt | tasyāntaṃ nādhigacchāmi ṛte prāṇavimokṣaṇāt ||
Vaiśaṃpāyana said: 'By a cruel reversal of fortune, this calamity—the great sorrow born of the destruction of one’s own kin—has now fallen upon me. I can see no end to this grief by any means, except by relinquishing life itself.'
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how catastrophic loss can overwhelm body and mind, and it frames despair as arising from a perceived 'reversal of fortune.' Ethically, it underscores the human cost of war and the danger of seeing death as the only escape from grief—setting the stage for counsel, consolation, and reflection on dharma amid mourning.
In Strī Parva’s mourning context after the great war, the narrator reports a speaker’s confession that the calamity of kinsmen’s destruction has befallen him, and that he sees no end to sorrow except through giving up life—expressing the extremity of post-war lamentation.