Shloka 15

कृपकृपी-जननम्

The Birth of Kṛpa and Kṛpī; Kṛpa’s Attainment of Astras

Devanagari script

पाण्डुरुवाच अप्रजस्य महाभागा न द्वारं परिचक्षते

Transliteration

pāṇḍur uvāca aprajasya mahābhāgā na dvāraṃ paricakṣate |

Translation

Pāṇḍu dit : «Ô sages comblés de fortune, on dit que pour celui qui n’a pas de descendance, la porte (du ciel et des mondes supérieurs) ne s’ouvre pas. Moi aussi je suis sans enfants ; ainsi, accablé de chagrin, je vous soumets cette requête. Ô possesseurs d’austérité, je ne suis pas encore délivré de la dette due aux ancêtres ; c’est pourquoi l’inquiétude me tourmente.»

Word by Word

• {'pāṇḍuḥ': 'King Pāṇḍu', 'uvāca': 'said', 'aprajasya': 'of one without offspring

• childless', 'mahābhāgāḥ': 'greatly fortunate

• venerable (vocative plural)', 'na': 'not', 'dvāram': 'gate

• doorway (figuratively, access to heaven/merit)', 'paricakṣate': 'they point out/declare

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Pāṇḍu
• mahārṣigaṇa (company of great sages)
• pitaraḥ (ancestors)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse foregrounds the dharmic idea of pitṛ-ṛṇa: one is obligated to continue the lineage and offer ancestral rites; childlessness is portrayed as a spiritual and ethical anxiety because it threatens the fulfillment of duties to the ancestors and the continuity of dharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

King Pāṇḍu addresses a group of sages, lamenting his lack of offspring and the resulting fear that he cannot discharge his ancestral obligations; he prepares to petition them for guidance or means to obtain children and thereby fulfill his duties.