Shloka 26
Śakuntalā’s Satya-Discourse and the Recognition of Bharata (शकुन्तला–सत्योपदेशः; भरतप्रतिग्रहः)
मृगयूथान्यथौत्सुक्याच्छब्दं चक्रुस्ततस्तत: । शुष्काश्चापि नदीर्गत्वा जलनैराश्यकर्शिता:
mṛgayūthāny athautsukyāc chabdaṃ cakrus tatas tataḥ | śuṣkāś cāpi nadīr gatvā jalanairāśyakārśitāḥ ||
وَیشَمپایَن نے کہا—تب ہرنوں کے ریوڑ بے چین ہو کر جگہ جگہ بار بار چیخ اٹھے۔ اور کچھ پانی کی نااُمیدی سے ستائے ہوئے سوکھی ندیوں کے پاٹ تک جا پہنچے؛ مگر وہاں بھی پانی نہ ملا تو وہ مایوسی سے اور زیادہ نڈھال ہو گئے۔
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the cascading harm that follows unchecked violence in the natural world: fear, displacement, and the suffering of living beings. In the Mahābhārata’s ethical atmosphere, such scenes often function as a reminder that royal power and martial prowess, when expressed as indiscriminate destruction, generate widespread duḥkha and invite moral scrutiny.
As the forest is being violently disturbed (contextually by a powerful king and his forces), herds of deer and other animals panic and cry out in many directions. Some run to riverbeds only to find them dry; despairing for water, they become weakened and exhausted.