Shloka 20
चपलाक्षस्य दायादे मृते5स्मिन् पुरुषर्षभ । विफला मे कृता: कृष्ण हृदि सर्वे मनोरथा:,“पुरुषोत्तम श्रीकृष्ण! चंचल नेत्रोंवाले पतिदेवके इस पुत्रकी मृत्यु हो जानेसे मेरे हृदयके सारे मनोरथ निष्फल हो गये
Vaiśampāyana uvāca |
capalākṣasya dāyāde mṛte 'smin puruṣarṣabha |
viphalā me kṛtāḥ kṛṣṇa hṛdi sarve manorathāḥ ||
ヴァイシャンパーヤナは言った。「おお人中の雄牛よ、クリシュナよ、あの素早き眼の者の後継ぎが死んだゆえに、我が胸に抱いていた望みはことごとく空しくなった。」
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how attachment to outcomes—especially tied to lineage and succession—can collapse into despair when confronted with death. Ethically, it points to the need for steadiness (dhairya) and dharmic perspective in the face of impermanence, a theme often addressed through Kṛṣṇa’s counsel in the epic.
A speaker (reported by Vaiśampāyana) laments to Kṛṣṇa that the death of a certain person’s heir has made all the speaker’s heartfelt hopes futile. The line functions as a grief-filled appeal, setting up a response or consolation from Kṛṣṇa within the Ashvamedhika Parva’s post-war narrative.