Shloka 16
Yudhiṣṭhira’s Lament for Karṇa and Renunciation-Oriented Self-Assessment (शोक-प्रलापः / त्याग-प्रवृत्तिः)
तासामयं समुद्योगो निर्वत्त: केवलोडफल:
tāsām ayaṃ samudyogo nirvṛttaḥ kevalo ’phalaḥ; paraṃtu vayaṃ tāḥ sarvā mātṝṇāṃ nava-yuvaka-putrān, viśuddha-suvarṇa-maya-kuṇḍalair alaṅkṛtān, jaghnima. te ’sya bhūlokasya bhogān anubhavituṃ avasaraṃ na prāpya, devatṛ-ṛṇaṃ pitṛ-ṛṇaṃ ca anapākṛtyaiva yama-lokaṃ gatāḥ.
尤提士提罗说道：“于是，她们的辛劳竟以彻底的徒然告终。因为正是我们杀了那些母亲的儿子——佩戴纯金耳环的青年。未曾得享人世应得的乐受，亦未能偿还对诸天与祖灵的债，他们便已赴阎摩之界。于此我看见战争苦涩的伦理重负：生命在责任与家室之道尚未开启之前，便被斩断。”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the moral cost of war: death can sever a person’s chance to fulfill life’s obligations (ṛṇa) to gods and ancestors. Yudhishthira frames the tragedy not only as loss of life but as the interruption of dharmic duties—an ethical lens that deepens his remorse.
Yudhishthira laments that the efforts of certain mothers (implicitly, their hopes and life-projects centered on their sons) have become futile because the young men were killed in the war. He emphasizes their youth and adornment, then notes they died before enjoying worldly life or repaying their religious and ancestral obligations, and thus went to Yama’s realm.