Shloka 17
Yudhiṣṭhira’s Lament for Karṇa and Renunciation-Oriented Self-Assessment (शोक-प्रलापः / त्याग-प्रवृत्तिः)
यदासां निहता: पुत्रा युवानो मृष्टकुण्डला: । अभुकक््त्वा पार्थिवान् भोगानृणान्यनपहाय च
yadāsāṁ nihatāḥ putrā yuvāno mṛṣṭa-kuṇḍalāḥ | abhuñjaktvā pārthivān bhogān ṛṇāny anapahāya ca ||
ユディシュティラは言った。「あの母たちの子――輝く精巧な耳飾りを身につけた若者たち――が殺されたとき、彼らは地上の生の歓びを味わうこともなく、神々と祖霊への負債を果たすこともなく、ヤマの国へ去っていった。かくして母たちの労苦と望みは、われらの行いによってことごとく空しくされたのだ。」
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames war-death as an ethical catastrophe beyond physical loss: the slain youths are denied both worldly fulfillment and the chance to complete dharmic obligations (debts to gods and ancestors). Yudhiṣṭhira’s lament highlights responsibility for disrupting others’ life-stages and duties, intensifying the moral weight of violence.
In Śānti Parva, Yudhiṣṭhira reflects on the aftermath of the Kurukṣetra war. Here he mourns that the young sons of many mothers—adorned and in the prime of life—were killed by his side, and therefore went to Yama’s realm without enjoying life or fulfilling traditional obligations, making the mothers’ aspirations futile.