Shloka 16

च्यवन-कुशिक-संवादः

Cyavana–Kuśika Dialogue on Hospitality, Service, and Lineage Questions

Devanagari script

पुत्रकामो हि पुत्रार्थे यां वृणीते विशाम्पते । क्षेत्रजं तु प्रमाणं स्यान्न वै तत्रात्मज: सुत:

Transliteration

putrakāmo hi putrārthe yāṁ vṛṇīte viśāmpate | kṣetrajāṁ tu pramāṇaṁ syān na vai tatrātmajaḥ sutaḥ prajānātha |

Translation

Bhīṣma dijo: «Oh señor de los pueblos, cuando un hombre que desea un hijo acepta por esposa a una mujer ya encinta precisamente para obtener descendencia, el niño nacido de ese vientre debe ser reconocido por la ley como hijo del marido (el que la tomó en matrimonio). En tal caso, el engendrador no tiene derecho alguno: el hijo no se trata como suyo, sino como hijo del marido conforme a la norma del linaje kṣetraja.»

Word by Word

• {'putrakāmaḥ': 'one who desires a son', 'hi': 'indeed, for', 'putrārthe': 'for the purpose of a son/offspring', 'yām': 'whom (a woman)', 'vṛṇīte': 'chooses, accepts (in marriage)', 'viśāmpate': 'O lord of the subjects/people (vocative address)', 'kṣetrajām': 'the kṣetraja (child of the ‘field’—offspring legally assigned to the husband of the mother)', 'tu': 'but, indeed', 'pramāṇam': 'authoritative rule, legal proof/standard', 'syāt': 'should be, is to be', 'na': 'not', 'vai': 'certainly', 'tatra': 'there, in that case', 'ātmajaḥ': 'one’s own-born (biological) son', 'sutaḥ': 'son', 'prajānātha': 'O protector/lord of creatures/subjects'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse states a dharma-legal principle: when a man marries a woman already pregnant specifically to obtain a child, the child is recognized as the husband’s son (kṣetraja), and the biological begetter has no paternal claim.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Bhīṣma’s instruction on dharma in the Anuśāsana Parva, he explains rules of sonship and lineage classification, clarifying who is considered the rightful father in a kṣetraja-type situation.