Shloka 21
Babhruvāhana’s Lament and Appeal for Expiation (प्रायश्चित्त-याचना)
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?
ito duḥkhataraṃ ki nu yan me mātā sukhaiḍhitā | bhūmau nipatitaṃ vīram anuśete mṛtaṃ patim ||
Disse Vaiśampāyana: “Que tristeza poderia ser maior do que esta? Minha mãe, criada no conforto, jaz agora no chão ao lado do seu esposo heroico tombado, abraçando-o como a um morto — resolvida a segui-lo na morte.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
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.
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.