वैशंपायन उवाच
सा हता सूतपुत्रेण राजपुत्री समज्वलत् ॥
वधं कृष्णा परीप्सन्ती सेनावाहस्य भामिनी ॥
जगामावासम् एवाथ तदा सा द्रुपदात्मजा ॥
कृत्वा शौचं यथान्यायं कृष्णा वै तनुमध्यमा ॥
गात्राणि वाससी चैव प्रक्षाल्य सलिलेन सा ॥
चिन्तयाम् आस रुदती तस्य दुःखस्य निर्णयम् ॥
किं करोमि क्व गच्छामि कथं कार्यं भवेन् मम ॥
इत्य् एवं चिन्तयित्वा सा भीमं वै मनसागमत् ॥
नान्यः कर्ता ऋते भीमान् ममाद्य मनसः प्रियम् ॥
तत उत्थाय रात्रौ सा विहाय शयनं स्वकम् ॥
प्राद्रवन् नाथम् इच्छन्ती कृष्णा नाथवती सती ॥
दुःखेन महता युक्ता मानसेन मनस्विनी ॥
सा वै महानसे प्राप्य भीमसेनं शुचिस्मिता ॥
सर्वश्वेतेव माहेयी वने जाता त्रिहायनी ॥
उपातिष्ठत पाञ्चाली वाशितेव महागजम् ॥
सा लतेव महाशालं फुल्लं गोमतितीरजम् ॥
बाहुभ्यां परिरभ्यैनं प्राबोधयद् अनिन्दिता ॥
सिंहं सुप्तं वने दुर्गे मृगराजवधूर् इव ॥
वीणेव मधुराभाषा गान्धारं साधु मूर्च्छिता ॥
अभ्यभाषत पाञ्चाली भीमसेनम् अनिन्दिता ॥
उत्तिष्ठोत्तिष्ठ किं शेषे भीमसेन यथा मृतः ॥
नामृतस्य हि पापीयान् भार्याम् आलभ्य जीवति ॥
तस्मिञ् जीवति पापिष्ठे सेनावाहे मम द्विषि ॥
तत् कर्म कृतवत्य् अद्य कथं निद्रां निषेवसे ॥
vaiśaṃpāyana uvāca
sā hatā sūtaputreṇa rājaputrī samajvalat ||
vadhaṃ kṛṣṇā parīpsantī senāvāhasya bhāminī ||
jagāmāvāsam evātha tadā sā drupadātmajā ||
kṛtvā śaucaṃ yathānyāyaṃ kṛṣṇā vai tanumadhyamā ||
gātrāṇi vāsasī caiva prakṣālya salilena sā ||
cintayām āsa rudatī tasya duḥkhasya nirṇayam ||
kiṃ karomi kva gacchāmi kathaṃ kāryaṃ bhaven mama ||
ity evaṃ cintayitvā sā bhīmaṃ vai manasāgamat ||
nānyaḥ kartā ṛte bhīmān mamādya manasaḥ priyam ||
tata utthāya rātrau sā vihāya śayanaṃ svakam ||
prādravan nātham icchantī kṛṣṇā nāthavatī satī ||
duḥkhena mahatā yuktā mānasena manasvinī ||
sā vai mahānase prāpya bhīmasenaṃ śucismitā ||
sarvaśveteva māheyī vane jātā trihāyanī ||
upātiṣṭhata pāñcālī vāśiteva mahāgajam ||
sā lateva mahāśālaṃ phullaṃ gomatitīrajam ||
bāhubhyāṃ parirabhyainaṃ prābodhayad aninditā ||
siṃhaṃ suptaṃ vane durge mṛgarājavadhūr iva ||
vīṇeva madhurābhāṣā gāndhāraṃ sādhu mūrcchitā ||
abhyabhāṣata pāñcālī bhīmasenam aninditā ||
uttiṣṭhottiṣṭha kiṃ śeṣe bhīmasena yathā mṛtaḥ ||
nāmṛtasya hi pāpīyān bhāryām ālabhya jīvati ||
tasmiñ jīvati pāpiṣṭhe senāvāhe mama dviṣi ||
tat karma kṛtavaty adya kathaṃ nidrāṃ niṣevase ||
Vaishampayana said: “Struck by the son of a suta, princess Krishna blazed up, desiring the death of the shining army-commander. Then the daughter of Drupada went to her own quarters. Having performed her ablutions according to custom, slender-waisted Krishna washed her body and garments with water. Weeping, she began to ponder how to resolve this sorrow: ‘What shall I do? Where shall I go? How is my task to be accomplished?’ Having thought thus, in her mind she turned to Bhima: ‘Today no one but Bhima will do what is dear to my heart.’ Then, in the night, she rose, left her own bed, and ran, seeking a protector, though she herself had protectors; the wise Krishna was seized by a great anguish of the heart. Reaching the kitchen where Bhimasena lay, Panchali, purely smiling, approached him as a pure-white three-year-old cow, raised in the forest, approaches a great elephant, or as a she-elephant in heat approaches a great bull elephant. She embraced him with her arms, as a creeper embraces a great flowering sal tree on the bank of the Gomati, and woke the blameless one, as the wife of the king of beasts wakes a sleeping lion in an impenetrable forest. Sweet-voiced Panchali, like a vina truly tuned to the gandhara note, spoke to Bhimasena: ‘Rise, rise, Bhimasena! Why do you lie as if dead? For he who is not dead, but lives on after touching another man's wife, is worse than dead. How can you give yourself to sleep, when this most sinful army-commander, my enemy, who has done such a deed today, still lives?’”
7559ae153ff1 · published Jul 16, 2026, 6:11:28 PM UTC
Available inRUENPage between verses with
Draupadi turns not to some abstract power but to Bhima -- the one who again and again became her protection. Her waking of Bhima sounds like the waking of justice itself.