Shloka 45
अश्रमवासिनां विषादः — Lament in Hastināpura after the Elders’ Forest Withdrawal
श्रीमतो<5स्य महाबुद्धे: संग्रामेष्वपलायिन: । पुत्रस्य ते पुत्रशतं निहतं यद् रणाजिरे
śrīmato 'sya mahābuddheḥ saṅgrāmeṣv apalāyinaḥ | putrasya te putraśataṃ nihataṃ yad raṇājire, tena ārambheṇa mahatā mām upāste mahāmune ||
Disse Vaiśampāyana: “Ó grande sábio, estas são as cem noras que me assistem—as esposas de vosso filho, o rei ilustre, de inteligência suprema e que jamais recuava em batalha—cujos cem filhos foram mortos no campo de guerra. Feridas por uma dor imensa diante de tão grande calamidade, elas permanecem devotadas ao meu serviço, ainda que seu pesar, repetidas vezes, aprofunde o luto—tanto o do rei quanto o meu.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the human cost of war: even valor and intelligence cannot prevent the devastation that follows unrighteous conflict. It also highlights dharma in the form of continued service and familial obligation amid grief—sorrow does not erase duties, yet it deepens the moral weight of past choices.
Vaiśampāyana describes to a great sage that the widows of the slain Kaurava princes—‘a hundred’ in number—remain gathered around and serving the elders. Their mourning, born from the battlefield deaths of the king’s sons, continually intensifies the shared grief of the household in the forest-ashram setting of the Āśramavāsika narrative.