Shloka 69
Kṛṣṇa at Duryodhana’s House: Refusal of Hospitality and Departure to Vidura (कृष्णस्य धार्तराष्ट्रनिवेशनगमनम्)
न मां माधव वैधव्यं नार्थनाशो न वैरता | तथा शोकाय दहति यथा पुत्रर्विनाभव:,“माधव! वैधव्य, धनका नाश तथा कुटुम्बीजनोंके साथ बढ़ा हुआ वैरभाव इनसे मुझे उतना शोक नहीं होता, जितना कि पुत्रोंका विरह मुझे शोकदग्ध कर रहा है
na māṃ mādhava vaidhavyaṃ nārthanāśo na vairatā | tathā śokāya dahati yathā putrair vinābhavaḥ ||
“噢，摩陀婆啊，既非寡居之苦，亦非财物尽失，甚至也非与至亲结怨日深，能如此焚灼我的悲痛；唯有失去儿子、与他们分离的境况，才最令我哀火灼心。”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse ranks sufferings: social and material calamities (widowhood, loss of wealth, hostility) are portrayed as less consuming than the grief of losing one’s children, highlighting the Mahābhārata’s emphasis on the profound ethical and emotional weight of familial bonds and the human cost that war threatens to impose.
In the Udyoga Parva’s pre-war tension, a speaker addresses Mādhava (Kṛṣṇa) and confesses that the most unbearable anguish is not status, property, or feuds, but the painful absence of her sons—an appeal that underscores the looming catastrophe of the coming conflict.