Shloka 38

Pāṇḍu’s Marriages, Conquests, and Triumphal Return (पाण्डोर्विवाह-विजय-प्रत्यागमनम्)

Devanagari script

रूपयौवनसम्पन्ने पुत्रकामे च धर्मत: । तयोरुत्पादयापत्यं समर्थों हूसि पुत्रक

Transliteration

rūpayauvanasampanne putrakāme ca dharmataḥ | tayor utpādayāpatyaṃ samartho hūsi putraka ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana dit : «Elle est pourvue de beauté et de jeunesse, et elle désire un fils selon le dharma. Ainsi, cher enfant, tu es capable d’engendrer une descendance pour elles deux.»

Word by Word

रूपयौवनसम्पन्नेin the two (women) endowed with beauty and youth

पुत्रकामेin the two desiring a son

चand

धर्मतःaccording to dharma / lawfully

तयोःof those two

उत्पादयbeget / produce

अपत्यम्offspring

समर्थःcapable

असिyou are

पुत्रकO dear son / boy

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames the desire for progeny as legitimate when pursued “according to dharma,” emphasizing that begetting children is not merely personal wish but a duty tied to lawful and ethical norms of lineage and household life.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vaiśampāyana reports a statement addressed to a younger man (“putraka”), asserting that a woman—described as beautiful, youthful, and righteously desiring a son—should have offspring produced, and that the addressee is capable of accomplishing this for “the two of them.”