Shloka 12

Devanagari script

पितृमातृसमायोगे पुत्रत्वं जायते यथा । हिंसां कृत्वावश: पापो भूयिष्ठं जायते तथा,जैसे पिता और माताके संयोगसे पुत्रकी उत्पत्ति होती है, उसी प्रकार हिंसा करनेसे पापी पुरुषको विवश होकर बारंबार पापयोनिमें जन्म लेना पड़ता है

Transliteration

pitṛmātṛsamāyoge putratvaṃ jāyate yathā | hiṃsāṃ kṛtvāvaśaḥ pāpo bhūyiṣṭhaṃ jāyate tathā ||

Translation

Bhīṣma said: “Just as sonship arises from the union of father and mother, so too a sinful man, having committed violence, is driven helplessly to be born again and again—most often in sinful wombs.”

Word by Word

पितृ-मातृ-समायोगेin the conjunction/union of father and mother

पुत्रत्वम्sonhood; the state of being a son

जायतेis born/arises

यथाas; just as

हिंसाम्violence

कृत्वाhaving done

अवशःhelpless; under compulsion

पापःsinful

भूयिष्ठम्again and again; repeatedly (lit. very much/more)

जायतेis born/arises

तथाso; in the same way

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

father (pitṛ)

mother (mātṛ)

son (putra)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Violence (hiṃsā) generates powerful negative karma: once a person commits harm, he becomes compelled by its consequences to undergo repeated births, frequently in degraded or sinful conditions. The verse frames this as a causal certainty, like biological birth from parents.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma is instructing Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and conduct. Here he uses an analogy—parental union producing a child—to stress the inevitability of karmic results from हिंसा, warning against harmful actions.