Shloka 117
अध्याय ७४: अक्रोध–क्षमा–निवासनीति
Chapter 74: Non-anger, Forbearance, and the Ethics of Residence
अहं चाप्येवमेवैनं जानामि स्वयमात्मजम् | यद्यहं वचनादस्या गृह्लीयामि ममात्मजम्
ahaṃ cāpy evam evainaṃ jānāmi svayam ātmajam | yady ahaṃ vacanād asyā gṛhlīyāmi mamātmajam
Vaiśampāyana sprach: „Auch ich kenne ihn genau so — als meinen eigenen Sohn, unmittelbar und aus mir selbst. Doch wenn ich auf ihr Wort hin meinen Sohn wieder an mich nehmen sollte …“
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights a dharmic tension between personal certainty/attachment (“I know him as my own son”) and the ethical weight of honoring another’s word or claim (“if, at her word, I were to take back my son”). It frames duty as a matter of competing obligations rather than simple preference.
The narrator-speaker states his firm recognition of a young man as his own son, but then introduces a conditional: if he were to act based on “her” statement and reclaim the son, it would have consequences. The line sets up a moral and narrative turning point about parentage, rightful claim, and the propriety of taking someone back on another’s request.