Shloka 3
अौर्ध्वदेहिक-श्राद्धे दानयज्ञविस्तारः | Expansion of the Aurdhvadehika Śrāddha and the Donation-Rite
कथं नु राजा वृद्ध: स वने वसति निर्जने । गान्धारी च महाभागा सा च कुन्ती पृथा कथम्,“हाय! हमारे बूढ़े महाराज उस निर्जन वनमें कैसे रहते होंगे? महाभागा गान्धारी तथा कुन्तिभोजकुमारी पृथा देवी भी किस तरह वहाँ दिन बिताती होंगी?
kathaṁ nu rājā vṛddhaḥ sa vane vasati nirjane | gāndhārī ca mahābhāgā sā ca kuntī pṛthā katham |
โอ้! พระราชาชราพระองค์นั้นจะทรงดำรงอยู่ในพงไพรอันเปลี่ยวร้างได้อย่างไร? และพระนางคานธารีผู้ทรงบุญ กับพระกุนตี—ปฤถา—จะทรงผ่านวันคืน ณ ที่นั้นได้อย่างไร?
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds compassionate concern for elders and ascetics: even those once powerful must endure the disciplines of renunciation, and the listener is invited to reflect on duty (dharma) toward aged relatives and on the moral weight of a life that ends in austerity rather than privilege.
Vaiśampāyana reports an anxious question about the post-war life of the Kuru elders: the old king Dhṛtarāṣṭra, along with Gandhārī and Kuntī (Pṛthā), has gone to live in seclusion in the forest, and the speaker wonders how they are managing there.