Mahabharata 11.21.13 — Stree Parva, Adhyaya 21, Shloka 13
अध्याय २१ — गान्धार्या वैकर्तनदर्शनम्
Gāndhārī’s Viewing of Vaikartana/Karṇa
अल्पावशेषो<पि कृतो महात्मा शरीरभक्षै: परिभक्षयद्धिः । द्रष्ट न नः प्रीतिकर: शशीव कृष्णस्य पक्षस्य चतुर्दशाहे
Vaiśampāyana uvāca — alpāvaśeṣo ’pi kṛto mahātmā śarīrabhakṣaiḥ paribhakṣyamāṇaḥ | dṛṣṭo na naḥ prītikaraḥ śaśīva kṛṣṇapakṣasya caturdaśāhe ||
وَیشَمپایَن نے کہا—لاش خور جانداروں نے بار بار نوچ نوچ کر اس مہاتما کے جسم کا بس تھوڑا سا حصہ باقی چھوڑا ہے۔ کرشن پکش کی چودھویں رات کے چاند کی مانند اس کا یہ گھٹا ہوا وجود دیکھ کر بھی ہمیں کوئی خوشی نہیں ہوتی۔
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the moral and emotional devastation that follows war: even a ‘great-souled’ hero is reduced to a pitiable remnant, and the sight brings no satisfaction—only grief and revulsion—underscoring impermanence and the ethical cost of violence.
In the lament-filled context of the Strī Parva, the narrator describes the post-battle scene: the fallen hero’s body has been eaten by carrion creatures, leaving only a small remainder, and the onlookers find the sight as joyless as the waning moon on the dark fortnight’s fourteenth night.
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