Shloka 19
Rāma–Jāmadagnya-janma-kāraṇa and Kṣatra-kṣaya
Paraśurāma’s origins and the depletion/restoration of kṣatriya lineages
सत्यवतीके गर्भगत बालकको देखकर भृगुश्रेष्ठ ऋचीकने अपनी उस देवरूपिणी पत्नीसे कहा--'भद्रे! तुम्हारी माताने चर बदलकर तुम्हें ठग लिया। तुम्हारा पुत्र अत्यन्त क्रोधी और क्रूरकर्म करनेवाला होगा ।।
utpatsyati ca te bhrātā brahma-bhūtas tapo-rataḥ | viśvaṁ hi brahma sumahac carau tava samāhitam ||
Seeing the child in Satyavatī’s womb, Ṛcīka, foremost of the Bhṛgus, said to his godlike wife: “O gentle lady, your mother has deceived you by exchanging the consecrated chāru. Your son will be exceedingly wrathful and given to cruel deeds. And a brother too will be born to you—one made Brahman-like by austerity, devoted to tapas; for the vast, all-pervading sacred power of Brahman has been gathered into your oblation.”
वायुदेव उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores that spiritual intention and disciplined austerity (tapas) can shape destiny and character: ritual potency is not merely external, but carries ethical and psychological consequences, producing divergent temperaments—one oriented to ascetic realization, another to harsh action—depending on what is ‘concentrated’ into one’s formation.
Within the Ṛcīka–Satyavatī episode, a sacrificial preparation (caru) meant to determine the nature of offspring has been exchanged, and Ṛcīka foresees the results: Satyavatī will have a brother born with Brahman-like, ascetic qualities, because the great spiritual force has been placed into her portion of the oblation.