Shloka 96
Adhyāya 227: Duryodhana’s Deliberation and the Ghoṣa-yātrā Pretext
Dvaita-vana
अहं जाने नैतदेवमिति राजन् पुनः पुन: । क्योंकि उस वनके निवासियोंने उस समय छः: पत्नियोंके गर्भसे ही उस बालककी उत्पत्ति बतायी थी। राजन! यद्यपि स्वाहाने सप्तर्षियोंसे बार-बार कहा कि “यह मेरा पुत्र है। मैं इसके जन्मका रहस्य जानती हूँ; लोग जैसी बात उड़ा रहे हैं, वैसी नहीं है।” (तो भी वे सहसा उसकी बातपर विश्वास न कर सके)
ahaṁ jāne naitad evam iti rājan punaḥ punaḥ |
Mārkaṇḍeya said: “O King, I know it is not so,” he repeated again and again. For the forest-dwellers were then spreading the report that the boy had been born from the wombs of six wives. Yet Svāhā kept telling the Seven Sages repeatedly, “He is my son; I know the secret of his birth—things are not as people are rumouring.” Even so, they could not at once believe her words.
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage highlights the ethical need to distinguish verified knowledge from public rumour: even when truth is asserted by one who knows, social narratives can overpower it, so dharma requires restraint in speech and careful judgment before believing or spreading claims.
Mārkaṇḍeya addresses the king and insists that the popular account is false. People in the forest claim the boy was born from six wives, while Svāhā repeatedly tells the Seven Sages that the child is hers and that she knows the true secret of his birth, though they do not immediately accept her statement.