Shloka 5
स्त्रीपर्व — नवमोऽध्यायः | Dhṛtarāṣṭra summons the Kuru women; the city departs in collective lamentation
संजय उवाच आगम्य नानादेशेभ्यो नानाजनपदेश्वरा: । पितृलोकं गता राजन् सर्वे तव सुतैः सह,संजय बोला--राजन्! नाना जनपदोंके स्वामी विभिन्न देशोंसे आकर सब-के-सब आपके पुत्रोंक साथ पितृलोकके पथिक बन गये
sañjaya uvāca āgamya nānādeśebhyo nānājanapadeśvarāḥ | pitṛlokaṃ gatā rājan sarve tava sutaiḥ saha ||
Sanjaya said: O King, the rulers of many provinces, having come from various lands, have all departed to the world of the ancestors—together with your sons. The verse underscores the sweeping, impartial finality of death in war: status and sovereignty do not shield anyone from the consequences of adharma and the devastation of fratricidal conflict.
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the universality of mortality and the ethical weight of war: even powerful rulers, alongside Dhritarashtra’s sons, are reduced to the same end—departure to Pitṛloka—implying that worldly power cannot avert the karmic and human cost of destructive, unrighteous conflict.
Sanjaya reports to King Dhritarashtra that many regional kings who had come from different lands have perished in the Kurukṣetra war and have gone to Pitṛloka, along with Dhritarashtra’s sons—situating the verse in the lament-filled aftermath described in the Strī Parva.