Shloka 51

अध्याय ३५१ — उञ्छवृत्ति-व्रतसिद्धेः मानुषस्य परमगतिः

Sūrya–Nāga Dialogue on the Perfected Gleaner-Ascetic

Devanagari script

कानीनगर्भ: पितृकन्यकायां तस्मादृषेस्त्वं भविता च पुत्र:,उन्हीं ऋषिसे तुम पिताके घरमें रहनेवाली एक कुमारी कन्याके पुत्ररूपसे जन्म लोगे और कानीनगर्भ (कन्याकी संतान) कहलाओगे

Transliteration

kānīna-garbhaḥ pitṛ-kanyakāyāṃ tasmād ṛṣes tvaṃ bhavitā ca putraḥ

Translation

Vaiśampāyana said: “You will be born as the son of that sage, from a maiden daughter who remains in her father’s house; therefore you will be known as a kānīna-garbha—one conceived by an unmarried girl.”

Word by Word

कानीनगर्भःa maiden-born child (son of an unmarried girl)

पितृकन्यकायाम्in the daughter of (her) father (i.e., a maiden living in her father's house)

तस्मात्from him/therefore (from that one)

ऋषेःof the sage

त्वम्you

भविताwill become / will be

चand

पुत्रःa son

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Ṛ

ṛṣi (a sage)

pitṛ (father)

kanyā (maiden daughter)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores how dharma literature classifies a person’s social-ritual identity through recognized categories of birth and guardianship (here, a child born to an unmarried maiden living in her father’s house), emphasizing the normative frameworks by which lineage and status are discussed.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana describes a foretold birth: the addressed person will be born as the son of a sage through a maiden daughter residing in her father’s household, and will consequently bear the designation kānīna-garbha.