Shloka 4
Ambā’s Vow of Tapas after Paraśurāma’s Assessment (अम्बाया तपोव्रतनिश्चयः)
अस्मद्वधार्थ निश्चित्य तपो घोरं समास्थित: । ऋते कन्यां महादेव पुत्रो मे स्यादिति ब्रुवन्
bhīṣma uvāca | asmad-vadhārthaṁ niścitya tapo ghoraṁ samāsthitaḥ | ṛte kanyāṁ mahādeva putro me syād iti bruvan nivartasva mahīpāla naitaj jātva anyathā bhavet |
Bhishma said: “Having resolved to obtain a son for the purpose of our destruction, he undertook a severe austerity, declaring, ‘O Mahadeva, let me have a son—not a daughter.’ Hearing this, the great god Mahadeva replied, ‘O king, you will first obtain a daughter; thereafter she will become a man. Now return—what I have spoken can never be otherwise.’”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse contrasts the power of disciplined austerity with the ethical danger of using it for revenge, while emphasizing that divine pronouncements are irrevocable and that outcomes unfold according to a higher, unalterable order.
Bhishma recounts how a king performed fierce penance to obtain a son specifically to take vengeance and bring about Bhishma’s death; Mahadeva grants a qualified outcome—first a daughter, who later becomes male—then sends the king back, affirming the certainty of his word.