Shloka 10

Devanagari script

अथवा दुर्मरं तात यदिदं मे सहस्नधा । पतिपुत्रविहीनाया हृदयं न विदीर्यते,“तात! जान पड़ता है, मनुष्यके लिये मरना अत्यन्त कठिन है, क्योंकि पति और पुत्रसे हीन होनेपर भी मेरे इस हृदयके हजारों टुकड़े नहीं हो रहे हैं

Transliteration

athavā durmaraṃ tāta yad idaṃ me sahasradhā | pati-putra-vihīnāyā hṛdayaṃ na vidīryate ||

Translation

あるいは、わが子よ、人にとって死ぬことはこの上なく難しいのだろう——夫と息子たちを失ってなお、わたしの心は千々に裂けはしないのだから。

Word by Word

अथवाor else / alternatively

दुर्मरम्hard to die (death is difficult)

तातdear one / father (address)

यत्that which

इदम्this

मेof me / my

सहस्रधाinto a thousand parts / a thousandfold

पतिपुत्रविहीनायाःof (a woman) bereft of husband and son

हृदयम्heart

नnot

विदीर्यतेis torn / is split

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana (narrator/speaker)

tāta (addressed person, unnamed here)

pati (husband, generic)

putra (sons, generic)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the paradox of human life: even under crushing loss, the embodied self continues to live. It points to the severity of suffering and the unexpected durability of the heart, inviting reflection on endurance, the limits of emotion, and the inevitability of living through consequences.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana reports a lament in which a bereaved woman—deprived of husband and sons—marvels that she has not died and that her heart has not shattered. The line functions as a poignant expression of post-war/post-tragedy sorrow within the Ashvamedhika Parva’s broader aftermath.