Shloka 16
Yudhiṣṭhira’s Lament for Karṇa and Renunciation-Oriented Self-Assessment (शोक-प्रलापः / त्याग-प्रवृत्तिः)
तासामयं समुद्योगो निर्वत्त: केवलोडफल:
tāsām ayaṃ samudyogo nirvṛttaḥ kevalo ’phalaḥ; paraṃtu vayaṃ tāḥ sarvā mātṝṇāṃ nava-yuvaka-putrān, viśuddha-suvarṇa-maya-kuṇḍalair alaṅkṛtān, jaghnima. te ’sya bhūlokasya bhogān anubhavituṃ avasaraṃ na prāpya, devatṛ-ṛṇaṃ pitṛ-ṛṇaṃ ca anapākṛtyaiva yama-lokaṃ gatāḥ.
ユディシュティラは言った。「かくして彼女らの営みは、まったくの徒労に終わった。われらが母たちの子――純金の耳飾りを飾った若者たちを殺したからだ。人の世における正当な歓びを味わう機会もなく、神々と祖霊への負債を果たすこともなく、彼らはヤマの国へ去っていった。ここに私は、戦の苦く重い倫理の荷を見いだす――義務も家の道も始まらぬうちに、命が断たれるのだ。」
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the moral cost of war: death can sever a person’s chance to fulfill life’s obligations (ṛṇa) to gods and ancestors. Yudhishthira frames the tragedy not only as loss of life but as the interruption of dharmic duties—an ethical lens that deepens his remorse.
Yudhishthira laments that the efforts of certain mothers (implicitly, their hopes and life-projects centered on their sons) have become futile because the young men were killed in the war. He emphasizes their youth and adornment, then notes they died before enjoying worldly life or repaying their religious and ancestral obligations, and thus went to Yama’s realm.