Shloka 7
Adhyāya 33 — Yudhiṣṭhira’s Post-Conflict Remorse and Inquiry on Āśrama Discipline (शोक-विमर्शः, आश्रम-जिज्ञासा)
पितामह! बारंबार इसी चिन्तासे मैं आज भी निरन्तर जल रहा हूँ। उन श्रीसम्पन्न राजसिंहोंसे हीन हुई इस पृथ्वीको, भाई-बन्धुओंके भयंकर वधको तथा सैकड़ों अन्य लोगोंके विनाशको एवं करोड़ों अन्य मानवोंके संहारको देखकर मैं सर्वथा संतप्त हो रहा हूँ ।।
pitāmaha! bāraṃbāram asyāṃ cintāyāṃ aham adyāpi nirantaraṃ jvalāmi | śrī-sampannai rāja-siṃhaiḥ hīnāṃ imāṃ pṛthivīṃ, bhrātṛ-bandhūnāṃ bhayaṅkaraṃ vadhaṃ, śataśo ’nyeṣāṃ vināśaṃ ca, koṭiśo ’nya-manuṣyāṇāṃ saṃhāraṃ ca dṛṣṭvā ahaṃ sarvathā santaptaḥ | kā nu tāsāṃ vara-strīṇām avasthā adya bhaviṣyati, vihīnānāṃ tu tanayaiḥ patibhiḥ bhrātṛbhis tathā? |
「祖父よ！この思いは幾度となく、今日に至るまで休むことなく私を焼き尽くしている。獅子のごとき栄華ある王たちを失ったこの大地を見、親族や兄弟が惨く屠られ、さらに幾百の者が滅び、数え切れぬ人々が破滅するのを見て、私はただただ苦悶に沈む。息子や夫や兄弟と永遠に引き裂かれた、あの気高き女たちは、今日いかなる有様であろうか。」
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the ethical aftermath of war: beyond victory or political order, violence leaves enduring moral injury—especially visible in the suffering of families and the vulnerability of women deprived of protectors. Yudhiṣṭhira’s lament frames kingship and dharma as accountable to human cost, not merely to strategic success.
In Śānti Parva, Yudhiṣṭhira speaks to Bhīṣma (lying on the bed of arrows) and confesses that he is still burning with grief. He surveys the devastation—kings slain, kinsmen destroyed—and then turns to a poignant consequence: the present condition of noble women who have lost sons, husbands, and brothers in the great war.