Shloka 9

Satyavatī’s Disclosure and the Summoning of Vyāsa

Niyoga for Kuru Succession

Devanagari script

भाग्योपनतकामस्य भार्या चोपनताभवत्‌ | शान्तनोर्न॒प्सिंहस्य देवराजसमझूुते:,त्रिपथगामिनी दिव्यरूपिणी देवी गंगा ही अत्यन्त सुन्दर मनुष्य-देह धारण करके देवराज इन्द्रके समान तेजस्वी नृूपशिरोमणि महाराज शान्तनुको, जिन्हें भाग्यसे इच्छानुसार सुख अपने-आप मिल रहा था, सुन्दरी पत्नीके रूपमें प्राप्त हुई थीं

Transliteration

bhāgyopanata-kāmasya bhāryā copanatābhavat | śāntanor nṛpasiṃhasya devarāja-sama-dyuteḥ tripathagāminī divya-rūpiṇī devī gaṅgā hy atyanta-sundarā manuṣya-dehaṃ dhārayitvā devarāja indra-sama-tejasvī nṛpa-śiromaṇiṃ mahārājaṃ śāntanuṃ bhāgyataḥ svayam upasthita-sukhaṃ yathākāmaṃ prāpya sundarī-bhāryā-rūpeṇa prāptābhavat ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: To King Śāntanu—lion among rulers, radiant like Indra—desire’s fulfillment came as if by destiny itself. The goddess Gaṅgā, the divine river who moves along the three paths, assumed an exquisitely beautiful human form and came to him as his wife, as though fortune had placed happiness in his hands without effort.

Word by Word

• {'bhāgya': 'fortune, destiny', 'upanata': 'arrived, presented, come into one’s reach', 'kāma': 'desire

• wished-for enjoyment', 'bhāryā': 'wife', 'abhavat': 'became

• came to be', 'śāntanu': 'King Śāntanu (Kuru ruler)', 'nṛpa-siṃha': 'lion among kings

• best of rulers', 'devarāja': 'king of the gods (Indra)', 'sama-dyuti / sama-tejas': 'equal in radiance/splendour', 'tripatha-gāminī': 'she who moves in three courses (heaven, earth, and the nether/underworld)', 'divya': 'divine, celestial', 'rūpiṇī': 'having a form

• embodied', 'devī': 'goddess', 'gaṅgā': 'the river-goddess Gaṅgā', 'manuṣya-deha': 'human body', 'dhārayitvā': 'having assumed/bearing', 'nṛpa-śiromaṇi': 'crest-jewel among kings

• foremost ruler', 'yathākāma': 'according to desire

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Śāntanu
• Gaṅgā
• Indra (Devarāja)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores the Mahābhārata’s recurring tension between human agency and destiny: worldly fulfillment (kāma) and prosperity can appear to arrive unearned, yet such gifts often carry hidden obligations and future consequences within the moral order.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana narrates that the river-goddess Gaṅgā, radiant and divine, takes on a human body and comes to King Śāntanu as his wife, as though fortune itself has delivered him the happiness he desired.