Shloka 103

Devanagari script

निरानन्द गतश्रीकं हृताराममिवाशयम्‌ | शून्यरूपमपध्वस्तं दुःखाद दुःखतरो5भवत्‌,वहाँ न तो आनन्द था और न वैभवजनित शोभा ही दृष्टिगोचर होती थी। वह राजभवन उस जलाशयके समान जनशून्य और विध्वस्त-सा जान पड़ता था, जिसके तटका उद्यान नष्ट हो गया हो। वहाँ पहुँचकर विदुरजी दुःखसे अत्यन्त खिन्न हो गये

Transliteration

sañjaya uvāca | nirānanda-gataśrīkaṁ hṛtārāmam ivāśayam | śūnya-rūpam apadhvastaṁ duḥkhād duḥkhataraḥ abhavat |

Translation

निरानन्दं गतश्रीकं हृताराममिवाशयम्। शून्यरूपमपध्वस्तं दुःखाद् दुःखतरोऽभवत्॥

Word by Word

निरानन्दम्joyless

गतश्रीकम्whose splendor/prosperity had departed

हृतारामम्whose pleasure-garden (ārāma) was taken away/destroyed

इवlike, as if

आशयम्a reservoir/pond

शून्यरूपम्having the appearance of emptiness, desolate-looking

अपध्वस्तम्ruined, destroyed

दुःखात्from sorrow

दुःखतरःmore sorrowful, more distressed

अभवत्became

Speaker

संजय उवाच

Characters & Entities

Sañjaya

Vidura

royal residence (rājabhavana)

reservoir/pond (āśaya in the simile)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the fragility of worldly prosperity (śrī) and the ethical cost of adharma-driven conflict: when righteous order collapses, even a royal house becomes an empty shell, and sorrow deepens for the wise who recognize what has been lost.

What is happening in the narrative?

Sañjaya describes the palace as joyless and ruined-looking, like a drained or pleasureless reservoir. When Vidura arrives and sees this desolation, his grief intensifies.