Shloka 33
Subhadrā-vilāpaḥ — Subhadrā’s Lament for Abhimanyu
Droṇa-parva 55
त॑ दृष्टवा निहतं पुत्र वरदत्तं महातपा:
taṁ dṛṣṭvā nihataṁ putra varadattaṁ mahātapāḥ
Vyāsa said: Seeing that son—Varadatta—lying slain, the great ascetic was struck by the stark consequence of battle, where even the gifted and beloved are not spared, and grief follows violence as its inescapable moral shadow.
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the ethical cost of war: death does not discriminate, and the aftermath is grief and moral reckoning. It implicitly warns that violence, even when justified by duty, carries unavoidable human suffering.
Vyāsa narrates that a great ascetic sees Varadatta—identified as a son—killed. The moment marks a turn toward lamentation and the recognition of loss amid the ongoing devastation of the Kurukṣetra war.