Shloka 22
Droṇotpattiḥ and Dhanurveda-Prāpti
Origin of Droṇa and Acquisition of Martial Science
पतिं विना मृतं श्रेयो नार्या: क्षत्रियपुड्भव | त्वद्गतिं गन्तुमिच्छामि प्रसीदस्व नयस्व माम्,क्षत्रियशिरोमणे! पतिके न रहनेपर नारीकी मृत्यु हो जाय, इसीमें उसका कल्याण है। अतः मैं भी आपके ही मार्गपर चलना चाहती हूँ, प्रसन्न होइये और मुझे अपने साथ ले चलिये। आपके बिना एक क्षण भी जीवित रहनेका मुझमें उत्साह नहीं है। राजन्! कृपा कीजिये और यहाँसे शीघ्र मुझे ले चलिये
vaiśampāyana uvāca |
patiṁ vinā mṛtaṁ śreyo nāryāḥ kṣatriyapuḍbhava |
tvad-gatiṁ gantum icchāmi prasīdasva nayasva mām, kṣatriya-śiromaṇe ||
Bhadrā sprach: „O du, der du in der Linie der Kṣatriyas geboren bist: Für eine Frau aus kṣatriyischem Geschlecht gilt es als besser zu sterben, als ohne ihren Gatten zu leben. Ich wünsche, denselben Weg zu gehen, den du gegangen bist. Sei mir gnädig — nimm mich mit, o Kronjuwel unter den Kṣatriyas.“
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse voices an idealized ethic of pativratā/strīdharma as understood in some Kṣatriya contexts: unwavering marital fidelity is portrayed as so central that life without the husband is deemed less desirable than death, and the wife seeks to share the husband’s fate. It reflects a value-system within the epic’s narrative world rather than a universal prescription.
Within Vaiśampāyana’s narration, a woman addresses her husband (praised as a foremost Kṣatriya) and declares that she wishes to follow his ‘gati’—his path or destination—asking him to be gracious and take her with him, expressing that she cannot bear to live even a moment without him.