Shloka 55
धृतराष्ट्रविलापः — Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Lament and Inquiry (Śalya-parva, Adhyāya 2)
दीर्घमुष्णं स नि:श्वस्य चिन्तयित्वा पराभवम् | दुःखेन महता राजन् संतप्तो भरतर्षभ:ः
dīrgham uṣṇaṃ sa niḥśvasya cintayitvā parābhavam | duḥkhena mahatā rājan santapto bharatarṣabhaḥ ||
ವೈಶಂಪಾಯನನು ಹೇಳಿದನು—ಓ ರಾಜನೇ! ಭರತಶ್ರೇಷ್ಠನು ದೀರ್ಘವಾದ ಉಷ್ಣ ನಿಶ್ವಾಸವನ್ನು ಬಿಟ್ಟು, ತನ್ನ ಪರಾಭವವನ್ನು ಚಿಂತಿಸಿ, ಮಹಾದುಃಖದಿಂದ ಒಳಗೊಳಗೆ ದಹಿಸಿದನು।
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores that defeat in a dharmic conflict is experienced as an inner moral crisis: a warrior’s loss brings not only external setback but also intense mental ‘burning’—a reckoning with choices, responsibility, and the consequences that follow.
The narrator describes a leading Kuru figure (called ‘bharatarṣabha’) reacting to a setback: he exhales a long, heated sigh, reflects on the defeat, and becomes consumed by great sorrow, conveying the psychological aftermath of failure on the battlefield.