Shloka 21

Babhruvāhana’s Lament and Appeal for Expiation (प्रायश्चित्त-याचना)

Devanagari script

इतो दुःखतरं कि नु यन्मे माता सुखैधिता । भूमौ निपतितं वीरमनुशेते मृतं पतिम्‌,“हाय! जो अबतक सुखोंमें पली थी, वही मेरी माता चित्रांगदा आज मृत्युके अधीन होकर पृथ्वीपर पड़े हुए अपने वीर पतिके साथ मरनेका निश्चय करके बैठी हुई है। इससे बढ़कर दुःखकी बात और क्या हो सकती है?

Transliteration

ito duḥkhataraṃ ki nu yan me mātā sukhaiḍhitā | bhūmau nipatitaṃ vīram anuśete mṛtaṃ patim ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana berkata: “Dukacita apakah yang lebih besar daripada ini? Ibuku, yang dibesarkan dalam kesenangan, kini terbaring di tanah di sisi suami pahlawannya yang gugur, memeluknya seperti orang mati—bertekad mengikutnya ke alam maut.”

Word by Word

इतःthan this / from this

दुःखतरम्more painful (thing)

किम्what?

नुindeed / pray

यत्that which

मेof me / my

माताmother

सुखैःwith comforts / by pleasures

धिताnourished / reared

भूमौon the ground

निपतितम्fallen down

वीरम्the hero

अनुशेतेlies beside / follows in lying

मृतम्dead

पतिम्husband

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

mother (mātā)

husband (pati)

hero (vīra)

earth/ground (bhūmi)

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 foregrounds the ethical weight of marital fidelity and the human cost of heroic death: even those raised in comfort can be driven by devotion and grief to extreme vows, highlighting how dharma and personal attachment collide in moments of loss.

What is happening in the narrative?

The speaker reports a scene of intense mourning: his mother, formerly accustomed to ease, is now on the ground beside her fallen heroic husband, holding him as if dead and expressing a resolve to die with him—presented as the peak of the narrator’s sorrow.