हा हा गच्छन्ति नो नाथाः समवेक्षध्वम् ईदृशम् ॥
इति पौराः सुदुःखार्ताः क्रोशन्ति स्म समन्ततः ॥
एवम् आकारलिङ्गैस् ते व्यवसायं मनोगतम् ॥
कथयन्तः स्म कौन्तेया वनं जग्मुर् मनस्विनः ॥
एवं तेषु नराग्र्येषु निर्यत्सु गजसाह्वयात् ॥
अनभ्रे विद्युतश् चासन् भूमिश् च समकम्पत ॥
राहुर् अग्रसद् आदित्यम् अपर्वणि विशां पते ॥
उल्का चाप्य् अपसव्यं तु पुरं कृत्वा व्यशीर्यत ॥
प्रव्याहरन्ति क्रव्यादा गृध्रगोमायुवायसाः ॥
देवायतनचैत्येषु प्राकाराट्टालकेषु च ॥
एवम् एते महोत्पाता वनं गच्छति पाण्डवे ॥
भारतानाम् अभावाय राजन् दुर्मन्त्रिते तव ॥
hā hā gacchanti no nāthāḥ samavekṣadhvam īdṛśam ||
iti paurāḥ suduḥkhārtāḥ krośanti sma samantataḥ ||
evam ākāraliṅgais te vyavasāyaṃ manogatam ||
kathayantaḥ sma kaunteyā vanaṃ jagmur manasvinaḥ ||
evaṃ teṣu narāgryeṣu niryatsu gajasāhvayāt ||
anabhre vidyutaś cāsan bhūmiś ca samakampata ||
rāhur agrasad ādityam aparvaṇi viśāṃ pate ||
ulkā cāpy apasavyaṃ tu puraṃ kṛtvā vyaśīryata ||
pravyāharanti kravyādā gṛdhragomāyuvāyasāḥ ||
devāyatanacaityeṣu prākārāṭṭālakeṣu ca ||
evam ete mahotpātā vanaṃ gacchati pāṇḍave ||
bhāratānām abhāvāya rājan durmantrite tava ||
"Alas, alas! Our protectors are departing; behold such a calamity!" -- so the townspeople, deeply afflicted with grief, cried out on every side. Thus, by signs of their bearing proclaiming the resolve hidden in their minds, the resolute sons of Kunti went to the forest. When those foremost of men were going out from the City of the Elephant, lightning flashed in a cloudless sky, and the earth trembled. Rahu swallowed the sun out of season, not at an eclipse, O lord of the people; and a meteor, having circled the city unfavorably on the left, broke apart. The flesh-eaters cried out -- vultures, jackals, and crows -- in the temples of the gods, on the shrines, on the ramparts and towers. Thus these great portents appeared when the Pandava goes to the forest -- for the destruction of the Bharatas, O king, through your ill counsel.
7ce4118d687f · published Jul 16, 2026, 4:17:50 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
The whole creation rises up against the injustice committed: lightning without clouds, an earthquake, an untimely eclipse, a falling star, the cries of vultures -- nature itself testifies that dharma has been trampled. When the protectors of righteousness depart, not one city alone is orphaned, but the very fabric of things trembles. It is telling that the narrator's word is direct: "through your ill counsel" -- the omens are not faceless; the calamity has a culprit, and the blind king is pointed to his own guilt. The verse teaches that evil wrought by people echoes as a shock through all creation; that the heavens cry out in omens where human conscience has fallen silent; and that one who condones injustice cannot hide behind "fate" -- creation itself names him an accomplice.