Shloka 35
Chapter 49: Sañjaya’s Enumeration of the Pāṇḍava Coalition (पाण्डवसैन्यसमागम-वर्णनम्)
पाञ्चालस्य सुता जज्ञे दैवाच्च स पुन: पुमान् स्त्रीपुंसो: पुरुषव्याप्र य: स वेद गुणागुणान्,भरतश्रेष्ठ! पूर्वकालमें काशिराजकी जिस सती-साध्वी कन्या अम्बाने भीष्मजीके वधकी इच्छासे घोर तपस्या की थी, वही मृत्युके पश्चात् पांचालराज द्रुपदकी पुत्री होकर उत्पन्न हुई, परंतु दैववश वह फिर पुरुष हो गयी। वह वीर पांचालकुमार स्त्री और पुरुष दोनों शरीरोंके गुण और अवगुणको जानता है
sañjaya uvāca | pāñcālasya sutā jajñe daivācca sa punaḥ pumān | strīpuṃsoḥ puruṣavyāpta yaḥ sa veda guṇāguṇān ||
قال سنجيا: «في نسلِ بانچالا وُلِدت ابنةٌ؛ غير أنّ القدرَ جعل الشخصَ نفسه يعود رجلًا. ولأنه أحاط بالأنوثة والذكورة معًا، فقد عرف محاسنَ كلٍّ منهما ومثالبَه. ويستحضر هذا البيت نذرَ أمبا القديم—إذ قامت برياضاتٍ قاسية تطلب موتَ بهيشما—ويبيّن أنها بعد الموت وُلِدت من جديد ولدروپادا، ثم اتخذت هيئةَ رجل، فصارت أداةً تتحرك بها عزيمةُ الماضي وعاقبةُ الفعل نحو المآل المقدَّر.»
संजय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how past intentions and actions (a vowed resolve) can persist across lives and, through fate, find an appropriate means to bear fruit. It also frames experiential knowledge—having lived both female and male conditions—as a basis for understanding the relative strengths and limitations of embodied roles, underscoring Mahabharata’s theme that destiny and moral causality operate through complex human circumstances.
Sanjaya explains to Dhritarashtra that the person born as Drupada’s daughter later became male by fate. This points to Amba’s earlier austerities aimed at Bhishma’s death and identifies her rebirth as the Panchala heir (commonly known as Shikhandi), whose presence becomes crucial in the chain of events leading toward Bhishma’s fall.