Shloka 23
Indraprastha Prosperity and the Arjuna–Kṛṣṇa Yamunā Excursion (इन्द्रप्रस्थ-वैभवम् तथा यमुनाविहारः)
एका च मम कन्येयं कुलस्योत्पादिनी भूशम् । पुत्रो ममायमिति मे भावना पुरुषर्षभ,“इस कारण हमारे इस कुलमें सदासे एक-एक संतान ही होती चली आ रही है। मेरे अन्य सभी पूर्वजोंके तो पुत्र होते आये हैं, परंतु मेरे यह एक कन्या ही हुई है। यही इस कुलकी परम्पराको चलानेवाली है। अतः भरतश्रेष्ठ! इसके प्रति मेरी यही भावना रहती है कि “यह मेरा पुत्र है!
ekā ca mama kanyeyaṃ kulasyotpādinī bhūśam | putro mamāyam iti me bhāvanā puruṣarṣabha ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “I have only this one daughter, and she is the one who will greatly sustain and continue our lineage. In our family, from ancient times, there has always been only a single child in each generation. All my forefathers had sons, but for me there has been only this one daughter. Therefore, O best of men, my settled conviction toward her is: ‘She is my son.’”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights lineage-dharma: the duty to sustain the family line can override rigid expectations about gender. The speaker ethically reframes his only daughter as a ‘son’ in intention and social function, emphasizing responsibility and continuity over mere biological categories.
A narrator reports a speaker explaining that their family traditionally has only one child per generation. Since he has only a daughter, he regards her as the effective heir who will continue the lineage, and therefore he internally treats her as his ‘son.’