Shloka 29
पापात्म-धर्मात्म-लक्षणम् तथा निर्वेदेन मोक्षमार्गः | Marks of the Sinful and the Righteous; Dispassion (Nirveda) as a Path to Liberation
समर्थ वासमर्थ वा कृशं वाप्यकृशं तथा । रक्षत्येव सुतं माता नान्य: पोष्टा विधानत:
samarthaṁ vā asamarthaṁ vā kṛśaṁ vā api akṛśaṁ tathā | rakṣaty eva sutaṁ mātā nānyaḥ poṣṭā vidhānataḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: “Whether a son is capable or incapable, whether he is frail or well-nourished, it is the mother who surely protects and sustains him. Apart from the mother, no one else can, in the proper and rightful manner, be the true nurturer of a son.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse elevates maternal duty as uniquely unconditional and dharmic: regardless of a child’s strength or weakness, the mother remains the primary protector and rightful nurturer, embodying steadfast care that others cannot fully replicate “according to proper order” (vidhānataḥ).
In Śānti Parva’s instruction on dharma and right conduct, Bhīṣma is teaching Yudhiṣṭhira through ethical reflections. Here he underscores the mother’s singular role in protection and upbringing, using contrasting conditions (capable/incapable, frail/robust) to stress the universality of her care.