Shloka 70
अध्याय ७४: अक्रोध–क्षमा–निवासनीति
Chapter 74: Non-anger, Forbearance, and the Ethics of Residence
(श्रीमानृषिर्धर्मपरो वैश्वानर इवापर: । ब्रह्मयोनि: कुशो नाम विश्वामित्रपितामह: ।। कुशस्य पुत्रो बलवान् कुशनाभश्न धार्मिक: । गाधिस्तस्य सुतो राजन विश्वामित्रस्तु गाधिज: ।। एवंविध: पिता राजन् मेनका जननी वरा ।॥) “महाराज! पूर्वकालमें कुश नामसे प्रसिद्ध एक धर्मपरायण तेजस्वी महर्षि हो गये हैं, जो दूसरे अग्निदेवके समान प्रतापी थे। उनकी उत्पत्ति ब्रह्माजीसे हुई थी। वे महर्षि विश्वामित्रके प्रपितामह थे। कुशके बलवान् पुत्रका नाम कुशनाभ था। वे बड़े धर्मात्मा थे। राजन! कुशनाभके पुत्र गाधि हुए और गाधिसे विश्वामित्रका जन्म हुआ। ऐसे कुलीन महर्षि मेरे पिता हैं और मेनका मेरी श्रेष्ठ माता है। सा मां हिमवतः प्रस्थे सुषुवे मेनकाप्सरा: । अवकीर्य च मां याता परात्मजमिवासती,“उस मेनका अप्सराने हिमालयके शिखरपर मुझे जन्म दिया; किंतु वह असद् व्यवहार करनेवाली अप्सरा मुझे परायी संतानकी तरह वहीं छोड़कर चली गयी
duṣyanta uvāca |
śrīmān ṛṣir dharmaparo vaiśvānara ivāparaḥ |
brahmayoniḥ kuśo nāma viśvāmitra-pitāmahaḥ ||
kuśasya putro balavān kuśanābhaś ca dhārmikaḥ |
gādhiḥ tasya suto rājan viśvāmitras tu gādhijaḥ ||
evaṃvidhaḥ pitā rājan menakā jananī varā |
sā māṃ himavataḥ prasthe suṣuve menakāpsarā |
avakīrya ca māṃ yātā parātmajam ivāsatī ||
Duṣyanta said: “O great king, in former times there was a glorious sage named Kuśa—devoted to dharma, blazing like another Vaiśvānara (Agni). Born from Brahmā, he was the great-grandfather of Viśvāmitra. Kuśa’s mighty son was Kuśanābha, a righteous man. His son, O king, was Gādhi, and from Gādhi was born Viśvāmitra. Such is the noble lineage of my father; and Menakā is my excellent mother. That apsaras Menakā bore me on the slopes of Himavat; yet, acting without virtue, she abandoned me there and went away, as though I were someone else’s child.”
दुष्यन्त उवाच
Educational Q&A
The passage underscores the ethical weight of dharma through lineage and conduct: noble ancestry is praised (dharma-oriented sages and kings), yet personal behavior still matters—Menakā’s abandonment is explicitly marked as adharma (asatī), showing that virtue is judged by actions, not status.
A speaker (Duṣyanta) recounts a genealogy linking Kuśa → Kuśanābha → Gādhi → Viśvāmitra, then identifies Menakā as the mother and states that she gave birth on the Himalaya and abandoned the child there, framing the child’s origin and the moral tension around abandonment.