Mahabharata — Ashramavasika Parva, Shloka 44
अश्रमवासिनां विषादः — Lament in Hastināpura after the Elders’ Forest Withdrawal
यस्यास्तु श्वशुरो धीमान् बाह्विक: स कुरूद्गवह: । निहतः सोमदत्तश्न पित्रा सह महारणे
yasyāstu śvaśuro dhīmān bāhvikaḥ sa kurūdgavaḥ | nihataḥ somadattaś ca pitrā saha mahāraṇe ||
Sinabi ni Vaiśampāyana: “Ang kanyang matalinong biyenan, si Bāhlika—pinakadakila sa mga Kuru—ay napatay. At si Somadatta rin, kasama ang kanyang ama, ay namatay sa dakilang labanan.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the sweeping, lineage-wide cost of war: even revered elders and protectors fall, intensifying the moral weight of violence and the inevitability of loss that follows conflict.
Vaiśampāyana recounts the deaths of Kuru elders—Bāhlika and Somadatta (with his father)—as part of the great war, explaining the depth of bereavement surrounding the surviving family members.
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