Shloka 12
अध्याय २०८ — इन्द्रियनिग्रहः, सत्याहिंसात्मकवाक्, कर्मफलविवेकः
Restraint of the Senses, Non-harming Truthful Speech, and Discernment of Karmic Consequence
एवं शतसहस्राणां शतं तस्य महात्मन: । पुत्राणां च न ते कंचिदिच्छन्त्यन्यं प्रजापतिम्,धर्मसे विचलित न होनेवाले युधिष्ठिर! शशबिन्दुके दस हजार स्त्रियाँ थीं। उनमेंसे प्रत्येकके गर्भसे एक-एक हजार पुत्र उत्पन्न हुए। इस प्रकार उन महात्माके एक करोड़ पुत्र थे। वे उनके सिवा किसी दूसरे प्रजापतिकी इच्छा नहीं करते थे
evaṁ śata-sahasrāṇāṁ śataṁ tasya mahātmanaḥ | putrāṇāṁ ca na te kaṁcid icchanty anyaṁ prajāpatiṁ ||
Bhīṣma said: “Thus, for that great-souled king, there were a hundred groups of a hundred thousand sons—an immeasurable progeny. And those sons desired no other lord of creatures (Prajāpati) than him alone.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores dharmic legitimacy in rulership: when a ruler is recognized as a rightful ‘prajāpati’—a sustaining, generative authority—subjects (here, his vast progeny) do not seek alternative allegiance. Moral authority and social stability are presented as intertwined.
Bhīṣma is describing the extraordinary progeny of a great king (Śaśabindu in the surrounding account): his sons were so numerous that they are counted as ‘a hundred hundred-thousands,’ and they acknowledged no other ‘prajāpati’ than him.