Shloka 17
Satyavatī’s Disclosure and the Summoning of Vyāsa
Niyoga for Kuru Succession
रूयुवाच पुत्रकाम न ते हन्मि पुत्र पुत्रवतां वर । जीर्णस्तु मम वासो5यं यथा स समय: कृत:,स्त्री बोली--पुत्रकी इच्छा रखनेवाले नरेश! तुम पुत्रवानोंमें श्रेष्ठ हो। मैं तुम्हारे इस पुत्रको नहीं मारूँगी; परंतु यहाँ मेरे रहनेका समय अब समाप्त हो गया; जैसी कि पहले ही शर्त हो चुकी है
strī uvāca—putrakāma nareśa! na te hañmi putram, putravatāṃ vara. jīrṇas tu mama vāso ’yaṃ; yathā sa samayaḥ kṛtaḥ.
The woman said: “O king who longs for a son, best among those blessed with sons! I will not kill your child. But my time of dwelling here has now run out, exactly as the condition agreed upon earlier was set.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds ethical restraint and fidelity to a prior agreement: even when power over another’s life is implied, the speaker chooses non-harm and acts according to the stipulated samaya (condition), emphasizing dharma as keeping one’s word and respecting limits.
A woman addresses a king who desires a son, praises him as foremost among fathers, declares she will not kill his child, and states that her permitted/appointed period of staying there has ended—exactly in accordance with an earlier agreed condition.