तां क्रोशन्तीं पृथा दुःखाद् अनुवव्राज गच्छतीम् ॥
अथापश्यत् सुतान् सर्वान् हृताभरणवाससः ॥
रुरुचर्मावृततनून् ह्रिया किं चिद् अवाङ्मुखान् ॥
परैः परीतान् संहृष्टैः सुहृद्भिश् चानुशोचितान् ॥
तदवस्थान् सुतान् सर्वान् उपसृत्यातिवत्सला ॥
सस्वजानावदच् छोकात् तत् तद् विलपती बहु ॥
tāṃ krośantīṃ pṛthā duḥkhād anuvavrāja gacchatīm ||
athāpaśyat sutān sarvān hṛtābharaṇavāsasaḥ ||
rurucarmāvṛtatanūn hriyā kiṃ cid avāṅmukhān ||
paraiḥ parītān saṃhṛṣṭaiḥ suhṛdbhiś cānuśocitān ||
tadavasthān sutān sarvān upasṛtyātivatsalā ||
sasvajānāvadac chokāt tat tad vilapatī bahu ||
After her, crying out and departing, Pritha followed in grief; and then she saw all her sons -- their ornaments and garments taken away, their bodies covered with ruru-deer hides, their faces somewhat bowed in shame, surrounded by exultant foes and mourned by friends. Coming to her sons in that state, overflowing with love, she embraced them and, lamenting, spoke this and that from grief.
1b1e1d6f94cc · published Jul 16, 2026, 4:12:36 PM UTC
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The mother's sorrow completes the picture: the royal sons, stripped of the marks of their rank, bow their faces in shame -- but their shame is sacred, for they are ashamed not of their own guilt but of another's injustice, which they suffer. The contrast between "exultant foes" and "mourning friends" divides the whole assembly into two camps: the triumph of baseness and the compassion of nobility. The mother's embrace amid this is love's last refuge -- powerless to avert the misfortune, yet unwilling to abandon those within it. The verse teaches that the noble feel shame even for another's evil turned against them; that calamity unfailingly divides people into those who rejoice at it and those who grieve over it; and that a mother's love, unable to remove suffering, grants the one thing within its power -- presence and embrace.