Shloka 119
Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)
सम्पूर्णे नवमे मासि जन्तोर्जातस्य मैथिल । जायते नामरूपत्वं स्त्री पुमान् वेति लिड्गतः
sampūrṇe navame māsi jantor jātasya maithila | jāyate nāmarūpatvaṁ strī pumān veti liṅgataḥ ||
Bhīṣma dit : «Ô Maithila, lorsque le neuvième mois est pleinement accompli, l’être incarné naît. Alors il reçoit nom et forme, et, par ses marques distinctives, on le reconnaît comme femme ou homme.»
भीष्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames birth as the point at which the living being becomes socially and perceptibly individuated—acquiring ‘name and form’—and is recognized through bodily marks as female or male, a step relevant to later discussions of duties (dharma) tied to embodied life.
Bhīṣma is instructing the Maithila king within Śānti Parva’s didactic discourse, describing the moment of birth after the completion of nine months and the consequent recognition of the newborn’s identity and sex.