वैशंपायन उवाच
तथा हि कथयन्तौ तौ भूयः शुश्रुवतुः स्वनम् ॥
आर्तिजं तस्य विप्रस्य सभार्यस्य विशां पते ॥
अन्तःपुरं ततस् तस्य ब्राह्मणस्य महात्मनः ॥
विवेश कुन्ती त्वरिता बद्धवत्सेव सौरभी ॥
ततस् तं ब्राह्मणं तत्र भार्यया च सुतेन च ॥
दुहित्रा चैव सहितं ददर्श विकृताननम् ॥
vaiśaṃpāyana uvāca
tathā hi kathayantau tau bhūyaḥ śuśruvatuḥ svanam ||
ārtijaṃ tasya viprasya sabhāryasya viśāṃ pate ||
antaḥpuraṃ tatas tasya brāhmaṇasya mahātmanaḥ ||
viveśa kuntī tvaritā baddhavatseva saurabhī ||
tatas taṃ brāhmaṇaṃ tatra bhāryayā ca sutena ca ||
duhitrā caiva sahitaṃ dadarśa vikṛtānanam ||
Vaishampayana said: "While they were thus conversing, the two of them again heard the cry of anguish of that vipra together with his wife, O lord of the people. Then Kunti entered hastily into the inner chamber of that great-souled brahmana, like a cow to her tethered calf, and there she saw the brahmana together with his wife, son, and daughter — their faces distorted by grief."
18ef3c2f191d · published Jul 12, 2026, 5:09:57 PM UTC
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Here the simile reveals the depth of Kunti's motherly compassion. The comparison is significant: she hastens to the weeping of a stranger's family "like a cow to her tethered calf" — another's misfortune draws her as though it were her own child in need. Here it is disclosed that the mercy of the saintly does not distinguish one's own from strangers: their heart responds to every suffering with kinship's own drawing-near. It is significant too that she enters unbidden, moved only by pity. So scripture shows that compassion does not wait for an invitation but rushes of itself to where there is weeping; and Kunti appears as mother not only to her own sons but to every sufferer.