Shloka 11

Śakuntalā-Janma-Nāmakaraṇa (Birth and Naming of Śakuntalā) | शकुन्तला-जन्म-नामकरणम्

Devanagari script

वामादजायताड्गुष्ठादू भार्या तस्य महात्मन: । तस्यां पञ्चाशतं कन्या: स एवाजनयन्मुनि:,इसी प्रकार उन महात्माके बायें अँगूठेसे उनकी पत्नीका प्रादुर्भाव हुआ। महर्षिने उसके गर्भसे पचास कन्याएँ उत्पन्न की

Transliteration

vāmād ajāyatāṅguṣṭhād ū bhāryā tasya mahātmanaḥ | tasyāṃ pañcāśataṃ kanyāḥ sa evājanayan muniḥ ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana sprach: „Ebenso trat aus dem linken Daumen jenes großherzigen Wesens seine Gattin hervor. Und in ihr zeugte der Weise selbst fünfzig Töchter.“

Word by Word

वामात्from the left (side)

अजायतwas born / arose

अङ्गुष्ठात्from the thumb

ऊindeed / also (emphatic particle)

भार्याwife

तस्यof him

महात्मनःof the great-souled one

तस्याम्in her

पञ्चाशतम्fifty (a set of fifty)

कन्याःdaughters / maidens

सःhe

एवindeed / just

अजनयत्begot / caused to be born

मुनिःthe sage

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

the great-souled sage (mahātmā/muni)

his wife

fifty daughters

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights the Mahābhārata’s theme that tapas (ascetic potency) can found and regulate lineage in extraordinary ways, reinforcing the dharmic importance of progeny and social continuity even when origins are miraculous.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana narrates that a sage’s wife manifests from his left thumb, and the sage then fathers fifty daughters through her, continuing a genealogical line central to the Adi Parva’s origin accounts.