Shloka 41

स्त्री-विलापः — गान्धार्याः रणभूमिदर्शनं शापवचनं च

Battlefield Lament and Gāndhārī’s Curse

Devanagari script

इच्छतोपेक्षितो नाश: कुरूणां मधुसूदन । यस्मात्‌ त्वया महाबाहो फलं॑ तस्मादवाप्लुहि,महाबाहु मधुसूदन! तुम शक्तिशाली थे। तुम्हारे पास बहुत-से सेवक और सैनिक थे। तुम महान्‌ बलमें प्रतिष्ठित थे। दोनों पक्षोंसे अपनी बात मनवा लेनेकी सामर्थ्य तुममें मौजूद थी। तुमने वेद-शास्त्रों और महात्माओंकी बातें सुनी और जानी थीं। यह सब होते हुए भी तुमने स्वेच्छासे कुरुकुलके नाशकी उपेक्षा की--जानबूझकर इस वंशका विनाश होने दिया। यह तुम्हारा महान्‌ दोष है, अतः तुम इसका फल प्राप्त करो

Transliteration

icchatopekṣito nāśaḥ kurūṇāṃ madhusūdana | yasmāt tvayā mahābāho phalaṃ tasmād avāpluhi ||

Translation

വൈശമ്പായനൻ പറഞ്ഞു— ഹേ മധുസൂദന, ഹേ മഹാബാഹോ! കുരുക്കളുടെ നാശം നീ അറിഞ്ഞിട്ടും അവഗണിച്ചു വിട്ടു; അതിനാൽ ആ കർമ്മഫലം നീ ഏറ്റുവാങ്ങുക.

Word by Word

इच्छताby (one) wishing / intentionally

उपेक्षितःwas neglected / was disregarded

नाशःdestruction

कुरूणाम्of the Kurus

मधुसूदनO slayer of Madhu (Krishna)

यस्मात्since / because

त्वयाby you

महाबाहोO mighty-armed one

फलम्fruit, result

तस्मात्therefore / from that

अवाप्नुहिobtain, receive

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Madhusūdana (Kṛṣṇa)

Kurus (Kuru lineage)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse stresses moral accountability for deliberate inaction: knowingly overlooking preventable harm is treated as a culpable act, and one must bear the karmic consequence (phala) of such neglect.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the aftermath of the war (Stree Parva’s lamentation context), the speaker addresses Kṛṣṇa as Madhusūdana and charges that he allowed the Kuru lineage’s destruction to proceed despite having the power and influence to restrain it, concluding that he must therefore accept the resulting consequence.