Shloka 18
Adhyāya 32: Tāpasānāṃ Darśanaṃ — Ascetics Seek to Identify the Pāṇḍavas
धर्मशीलो महातेजा: कुरूणां हितकृत् तथा । ततः प्रोवाच ता: सर्वा: क्षत्रिया निहतेश्वरा:
dharmaśīlo mahātejāḥ kurūṇāṃ hitakṛt tathā | tataḥ provāca tāḥ sarvāḥ kṣatriyā nihateśvarāḥ ||
वैशम्पायन उवाच—ततः स महात्मा महातेजा धर्मशीलः कुरूणां हितकृत्, सलिलस्थ एव, निहतेश्वराः सर्वाः क्षत्रियस्त्रियः समाहूय प्रोवाच; शोकं धर्मे प्रतिष्ठाप्य तासां मार्गं प्रदर्शयन्, पतिलोकप्राप्तये ताः समादिदेश।
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds dharmic leadership in a time of collective grief: a righteous, luminous guide acts for the welfare of the Kuru community by giving purposeful counsel to those devastated by war, redirecting sorrow toward a disciplined, value-guided course.
After the destruction of the Kuru lords, the widowed Kṣatriya women are addressed by a dharma-centered, radiant figure who speaks to them as a group, setting the stage for their subsequent action described in the surrounding passage (their wish to follow their husbands’ path and the ritual act connected with the river).