Shloka 60
आयोधनदर्शनम्
Viewing the Battlefield of Kurukṣetra
नूनमाचरितं पापं मया पूर्वेषु जन्मसु । या पश्यामि हतानू पुत्रान् पौत्रान् भ्रातृश्ष माधव,“माधव! निश्चय ही मैंने पूर्वजन्मोंमें कोई बड़ा भारी पाप किया है, जिससे आज अपने पुत्रों, पौत्रों और भाइयोंको यहाँ मारा गया देख रही हूँ”
nūnam ācaritaṃ pāpaṃ mayā pūrveṣu janmasu | yā paśyāmi hatān putrān pautrān bhrātṝṃś ca mādhava ||
“噢，摩陀婆！我在前世必定造下了沉重的罪业；因此如今我才会看见我的儿子、孙子与兄弟们在此被杀，横陈于地。”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse voices a common Mahābhārata ethical reflex: unbearable suffering is interpreted through karma—past wrongdoing (pāpa) is imagined as ripening into present grief. It highlights how humans seek moral causality and accountability when confronted with the devastation of war.
In Strī-parvan’s aftermath of Kurukṣetra, a bereaved woman addresses Kṛṣṇa as Mādhava and laments that she is seeing her sons, grandsons, and brothers slain. The line captures the immediate shock of mass familial loss and frames it as the fruit of past-life sin.