Shloka 22
Droṇotpattiḥ and Dhanurveda-Prāpti
Origin of Droṇa and Acquisition of Martial Science
पतिं विना मृतं श्रेयो नार्या: क्षत्रियपुड्भव | त्वद्गतिं गन्तुमिच्छामि प्रसीदस्व नयस्व माम्
vaiśampāyana uvāca |
patiṁ vinā mṛtaṁ śreyo nāryāḥ kṣatriyapuḍbhava |
tvad-gatiṁ gantum icchāmi prasīdasva nayasva mām, kṣatriya-śiromaṇe ||
Bhadrā dit : «Ô toi né dans la lignée des kṣatriya, pour une femme issue des kṣatriya, on tient qu’il vaut mieux mourir que vivre sans époux. Je veux suivre la voie même que tu as prise. Sois clément : emmène-moi avec toi, ô joyau des kṣatriya.»
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse voices an idealized ethic of pativratā/strīdharma as understood in some Kṣatriya contexts: unwavering marital fidelity is portrayed as so central that life without the husband is deemed less desirable than death, and the wife seeks to share the husband’s fate. It reflects a value-system within the epic’s narrative world rather than a universal prescription.
Within Vaiśampāyana’s narration, a woman addresses her husband (praised as a foremost Kṣatriya) and declares that she wishes to follow his ‘gati’—his path or destination—asking him to be gracious and take her with him, expressing that she cannot bear to live even a moment without him.