Shloka 45
अश्रमवासिनां विषादः — Lament in Hastināpura after the Elders’ Forest Withdrawal
श्रीमतो<5स्य महाबुद्धे: संग्रामेष्वपलायिन: । पुत्रस्य ते पुत्रशतं निहतं यद् रणाजिरे
śrīmato 'sya mahābuddheḥ saṅgrāmeṣv apalāyinaḥ | putrasya te putraśataṃ nihataṃ yad raṇājire, tena ārambheṇa mahatā mām upāste mahāmune ||
毗湿摩波耶那说道：“大圣者啊，这些是侍奉于我的一百位儿媳——你那位光耀的王子之妻；他睿智无双，征战从不退却，而他的百子却在战场上尽数被杀。遭此大祸，悲痛如山，她们仍守在我身边尽心服侍；然而她们的哀伤又一次次加深了我与国王的哭悼。”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the human cost of war: even valor and intelligence cannot prevent the devastation that follows unrighteous conflict. It also highlights dharma in the form of continued service and familial obligation amid grief—sorrow does not erase duties, yet it deepens the moral weight of past choices.
Vaiśampāyana describes to a great sage that the widows of the slain Kaurava princes—‘a hundred’ in number—remain gathered around and serving the elders. Their mourning, born from the battlefield deaths of the king’s sons, continually intensifies the shared grief of the household in the forest-ashram setting of the Āśramavāsika narrative.