Shloka 226
कृपकृपी-जननम्
The Birth of Kṛpa and Kṛpī; Kṛpa’s Attainment of Astras
तथैवास्मिन् मम क्षेत्रे कथं वै सम्भवेत् प्रजा । इस लोकमें श्रेष्ठ पुरुष पितृ-ऋणसे मुक्त होनेके लिये संतानोत्पत्तिका प्रयत्न करते और स्वयं ही पुत्ररूपमें जन्म लेते हैं। जैसे मैं अपने पिताके क्षेत्रमें महर्षि व्यासद्वारा उत्पन्न हुआ हूँ, उसी प्रकार मेरे इस क्षेत्रमें भी कैसे संतानकी उत्पत्ति हो सकती है?
tathaivāsmin mama kṣetre kathaṃ vai sambhavet prajā |
Vaiśampāyana said: “Even so, in this field of mine, how indeed could offspring come to be?” The passage reflects the dharmic concern that noble persons strive for progeny to be freed from the ancestral debt (pitṛ-ṛṇa), and that the father may, as it were, be reborn through the son. Thus the speaker wonders how, in his own ‘field’ (the lawful sphere for begetting children), generation can occur—echoing the precedent of birth through Vyāsa in another’s lineage.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds the dharmic idea of pitṛ-ṛṇa: one seeks progeny to continue the lineage and discharge obligations to ancestors; the ‘field’ (kṣetra) symbolizes the rightful context in which offspring are generated.
The speaker raises a pointed question about how children can be produced within his own rightful ‘field,’ invoking the broader narrative precedent of extraordinary begetting associated with Vyāsa and lineage-continuation.