Shloka 43

Vyāsa’s Boon-Offer and Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s Remorse in the Forest Assembly (आश्रमवासिक पर्व, अध्याय ३६)

Devanagari script

अन्त:पुरेषु च तदा सुमहान्‌ रुदितस्वन: । प्रादुरासीन्महाराज पृथां श्रुत्वा तथागताम्‌,भीमसेन आदि सभी भाई रोने लगे। महाराज! कुन्तीकी वैसी दशा सुनकर अन्तःपुरमें भी रोने-बिलखनेका महान्‌ शब्द सुनायी देने लगा

Transliteration

antaḥpureṣu ca tadā sumahān ruditasvanaḥ | prādurāsīn mahārāja pṛthāṃ śrutvā tathāgatām ||

Translation

അപ്പോൾ, മഹാരാജാ, പൃഥ (കുന്തി) അത്തരം അവസ്ഥയിൽ എത്തിയെന്നു കേട്ടപ്പോൾ അന്തഃപുരങ്ങളിൽ മഹത്തായ കരച്ചിലിന്റെ ധ്വനി ഉയർന്നു।

Word by Word

अन्तःपुरेषुin the inner apartments (harem/palace chambers)

चand

तदाthen

सुमहान्very great

रुदितस्वनःsound of weeping (wailing-noise)

प्रादुरासीत्arose/appeared

महाराजO great king

पृथाम्Prithā (Kuntī)

श्रुत्वाhaving heard

तथाthus/so; in that manner

गताम्gone/come to such a state (having become so)

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Mahārāja (Janamejaya)

Pṛthā (Kuntī)

antaḥpura (inner apartments/palace women)

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 underscores the inevitability of sorrow even in royal life and points to the ethical truth of impermanence: when elders suffer or decline, the community’s grief reveals bonds of duty, care, and shared responsibility.

What is happening in the narrative?

News of Kuntī (Pṛthā) reaching a grievous condition spreads, and a great outcry of weeping rises in the palace’s inner quarters; the narrator reports the collective lamentation that follows upon hearing her plight.