Shloka 8
वैशम्पायनजी कहते हैं--नृपश्रेष्ठ! कुन्ती शापसे अत्यन्त डरकर मन-ही-मन तरह- तरहकी बातें सोच रही थी। उसके सारे अंग मोहसे व्याप्त हो रहे थे। वह बार-बार आश्चर्यचवकित हो रही थी। एक ओर तो वह शापसे आतंकित थी, दूसरी ओर उसे भाई- बन्धुओंका भय लगा हुआ था। भूपाल! उस दशामें वह लज्जाके कारण विशृंखल वाणीद्वारा सूर्यदेवसे इस प्रकार बोली ।। कुन्त्युवाच पिता मे प्रियते देव माता चान्ये च बान्धवा: । न तेषु प्रियमाणेषु विधिलोपो भवेदयम्,कुन्तीने कहा--देव! मेरे पिता, माता तथा अन्य बान्धव जीवित हैं। उन सबके जीते- जी स्वयं आत्मदान करनेपर कहीं शास्त्रीय विधिका लोप न हो जाय?
vaiśampāyana uvāca |
nṛpaśreṣṭha! kuntī śāpāt atyantaṁ bhītvā manasā bahudhā vicintayantī āsīt | tasyāḥ sarvāṅgāni mohena vyāptāni babhūvuḥ | sā punaḥ punaḥ vismayam ājagāma | ekato hi śāpāt trastā, aparato bhrātṛ-bandhūnāṁ bhayam āśaṅkamānā | bhūpāla! sā tathāvasthāyāṁ lajjayā visṛṣṭa-vāṇī sūryadevaṁ praty evaṁ uvāca ||
kuntī uvāca |
pitā me priyate deva mātā cānye ca bāndhavāḥ |
na teṣu priyamāṇeṣu vidhilopo bhaved ayam ||
Vaiśampāyana said: O best of kings, Kuntī—terrified by the curse—turned many thoughts over in her mind. Delusion spread through all her limbs; again and again she was struck with astonishment. On one side she was shaken by fear of the curse, and on the other she dreaded the reproach and danger involving her brothers and kinsmen. In that condition, out of shame and with faltering speech, she addressed the Sun-god as follows. Kuntī said: O god, my father, my mother, and my other relatives are still alive. While they yet live, if I were to give myself away, would this not become a lapse of prescribed conduct—a violation of proper rule?
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds dharma as lived ethical anxiety: even under divine pressure and fear, Kuntī measures her choices against śāstric propriety and the living claims of parents and kin, showing that personal desire or panic must be weighed against rule, responsibility, and social-ritual order.
Kuntī, frightened by a curse and worried about the consequences for her family, speaks hesitantly to the Sun-god. She points out that her parents and relatives are alive and asks whether yielding herself would constitute a breach of prescribed conduct (vidhilopa).