Next Verse→

Shloka 1736

Gāndhārī’s Petition for a Vision of the Departed (गान्धार्याः प्रार्थना—दिव्यदर्शनप्रसङ्गः)

Devanagari script

समन्ततः परिक्षिप्ता माताभून्मे दवाग्निना । 'भीमसेन! इस भयसे मुझे बचाओ, ऐसा कहकर चारों ओर चीखती-चिल्लाती हुई मेरी माताको दावानलने जलाकर भस्म कर दिया होगा

Transliteration

samantataḥ parikṣiptā mātābhūn me davāgninā | bhīmasena! asya bhayāt māṃ mocaya iti uktvā caturdiśaṃ krandantī vilapantī ca mama mātā davānalena dagdhvā bhasmībhūtā bhaviṣyati ||

Translation

ยุธิษฐิระกล่าวว่า “มารดาของข้าถูกไฟป่าล้อมรอบทุกทิศ คร่ำครวญร้องว่า ‘ภีมเสน! จงช่วยข้าจากความหวาดกลัวนี้!’ แล้วกรีดร้องร่ำไห้ไปทั่วทุกด้าน นางคงถูกเพลิงพนาลเผาผลาญจนเหลือเพียงเถ้าถ่าน”

Word by Word

समन्ततःon all sides, all around

परिक्षिप्ताsurrounded, encompassed

माताmother

अभूत्became, was

मेof me, my

दवाग्निनाby the forest-fire

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

Yudhiṣṭhira

Bhīmasena (Bhīma)

Kuntī (implied as 'my mother')

davāgni (forest-fire)

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 passage highlights the ethical weight of kinship and protection (especially toward one’s mother) and the painful recognition of impermanence: even the most revered relationships are vulnerable to sudden loss, calling for compassion and steadiness in dharma amid grief.

What is happening in the narrative?

Yudhiṣṭhira imagines (or fears) that his mother has been trapped by a forest-fire. He recalls her desperate cry to Bhīma for rescue and concludes that she may have been burned to ashes, expressing intense sorrow and helplessness.