Shloka 40
Ādi Parva, Adhyāya 47 — Janamejaya’s Sarpa-satra: Vow, Preparation, and the Onset of the Serpent Offering
इममव्यक्तरूपं मे गर्भभाधाय सत्तम । कथं त्यक्त्वा महात्मा सन् गन्तुमिच्छस्यनागसम्,“महाभाग! आपने जो गर्भ स्थापित किया है, उसका स्वरूप या लक्षण अभी प्रकट नहीं हुआ। महात्मा होकर ऐसी दशामें आप मुझ निरपराध पत्नीको त्यागकर कैसे जाना चाहते हैं?”
imam avyaktarūpaṃ me garbham ādhāya sattama | kathaṃ tyaktvā mahātmā san gantum icchasy anāgasam ||
Takṣaka said: “O best of men, after you have planted a child in my womb—whose form and signs are not yet manifest—how can you, though a mahātmā, wish to depart by abandoning me, an innocent wife? Such a leaving is not in accord with dharma for one who claims the stature of a mahātmā.”
तक्षक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames dharma in terms of responsibility after initiating conception: a person claiming moral greatness (mahātmā) should not abandon an innocent spouse, especially when a pregnancy has been established and its outcome is still unmanifest.
Takṣaka speaks in protest, questioning how the addressed man can intend to leave after causing her pregnancy; she appeals to his ethical self-image and asserts her blamelessness (anāgasā) to prevent abandonment.