Shloka 20
Gāndhārī’s Lament and the Identification of Duḥśāsana (स्त्रीपर्व, अध्याय १८)
गदया भीमसेनेन पश्य माधव मे सुतम् । द्यूतक््लेशाननुस्मृत्य द्रौपदीनोदितेन च,माधव! देखो, द्यूतक्रीडाके समय पाये हुए क्लेशोंको स्मरण करके द्रौपदीसे प्रेरित हुए भीमसेनने मेरे इस पुत्रको गदासे मार डाला है
gadayā bhīmasenena paśya mādhava me sutam | dyūtakleśān anusmṛtya draupadīnoditena ca ||
Vaiśampāyana berkata: “Lihatlah, wahai Mādhava—anak lelakiku! Bhīmasena telah menumbangkannya dengan gada, didorong oleh Draupadī serta oleh ingatan akan kehinaan dan derita permainan dadu. Pembunuhan ini bukan sekadar keganasan di medan perang, melainkan gema moral daripada adharma: perbuatan yang digerakkan oleh ketidakadilan yang diingat kembali dan sumpah pembalasan.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how remembered injustice (the dyūta humiliation) can fuel retaliatory violence, showing the long moral shadow of adharma: wrongdoing does not end with the act, but ripens into further suffering and ethically fraught retribution.
Vaiśampāyana reports to the listener that Bhīmasena has killed the speaker’s son with a mace, acting under Draupadī’s urging and recalling the torments of the dice-game—linking the battlefield death directly to the earlier episode of humiliation.