Shloka 45
धर्मद्वारबहुत्वविमर्शः — Reflection on the Many ‘Doors’ of Dharma (Śānti-parva 342)
पृश्रिरित्युच्यते चान्नं वेद आपो$मृतं तथा । ममैतानि सदा गर्भ: पृश्चिगर्भस्ततो हाहम्
pṛśrir ity ucyate cānnaṃ veda āpo'mṛtaṃ tathā | mamaitāni sadā garbhaḥ pṛścigarbhas tato hāham ||
Arjuna said: “Food is spoken of as ‘pṛśri’; the Veda likewise declares the waters to be nectar. These are ever within me as a womb—therefore I am ‘pṛści-garbha’.”
अर्जुन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses Vedic authority and word-derivation to link sustenance (food) and life-giving waters (called ‘nectar’) with one’s inner constitution, suggesting that what supports life externally is also conceived as residing within, shaping identity through symbolic etymology.
Arjuna speaks in a reflective, explanatory mode, citing what the Veda says about food and water and then drawing an etymological conclusion about an epithet (‘pṛści-garbha’) based on the idea that these life-sustaining elements are ‘within’ him.