Shloka 3
Saṃsāra-gahana-jñāna: Vidura’s Account of Embodiment, Bondage, and Dharmic Release (संसारगहन-ज्ञानम्)
इस प्रकार श्रीमह्या भारत स्त्रीपर्वके अन्तर्गत जलप्रदानिकपर्वमें धृतराष्ट्रके शीकका निवारणविषयक तीसरा अध्याय पूरा हुआ,ततः स पञ्चमे5तीते मासे वासमकल्पयत् | ततः सर्वाज्भिसम्पूर्णो गर्भो वै स तु जायते विदुरजीने कहा--महाराज! जब गर्भाशयमें वीर्य और रजका संयोग होता है तभीसे जीवोंकी गर्भवृद्धिरूप सारी क्रिया शास्त्रके अनुसार देखी जाती हैं।- आरम्भमें जीव कलिल (वीर्य और रजके संयोग)-के रूपमें रहता है, फिर कुछ दिन बाद पाँचवाँ महीना बीतनेपर वह चैतन्यरूपसे प्रकट होकर पिण्डमें निवास करने लगता है। इसके बाद वह गर्भस्थ पिण्ड सर्वांगपूर्ण हो जाता है
tataḥ sa pañcame māsātīte vāsam akalpayat | tataḥ sarvāṅgabhisampūrṇo garbho vai sa tu jāyate | (vidura uvāca) ārambhe jīvaḥ kalila-rūpeṇa tiṣṭhati; paścāt pañcamo māsaḥ atīte sati sa cetanya-rūpeṇa prakaṭībhūya piṇḍe nivāsaṃ karoti; tataḥ paraṃ sa garbhasthaḥ piṇḍaḥ sarvāṅga-sampūrṇaḥ bhavati |
Vidura said: “O King, when the male seed and the female generative fluid unite in the womb, the entire process of embryonic growth proceeds according to the order taught in the śāstras. In the beginning the living being exists as a ‘kalila’, a tiny undifferentiated mass formed from that union. When the fifth month has passed, consciousness becomes manifest and the being takes residence in the bodily lump; thereafter the embryo becomes complete in all its limbs.”
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Vidura frames human development as an ordered, śāstra-governed process: life begins with conception, progresses through defined stages, and by the fifth month consciousness is said to become manifest, culminating in a fully formed body. The ethical undertone is reverence for life and trust in normative knowledge (śāstra) while advising the king.
In the Stree Parva context, Vidura addresses Dhṛtarāṣṭra with instructive counsel. Here he shifts to a didactic description of fetal development—kalila to conscious residence in the piṇḍa and then full-limbed completion—using it as authoritative teaching within his broader guidance to the grieving king.