Shloka 12

महाभिष-गङ्गा-दर्शनं वसूनां शापकथनं च

Mahābhiṣa Encounters Gaṅgā; The Vasus Explain Their Curse

Devanagari script

अष्टक उवाच अन्यद्‌ वरपुर्विद्धातीह गर्भ- मुताहोस्वित्‌ स्वेन कायेन याति । आपसद्यमानो नरयोनिमेता- माचक्ष्व मे संशयात्‌ प्रब्रवीमि,अष्टकने पूछा--राजन्‌! इस मनुष्ययोनिमें आनेवाला जीव अपने इसी शरीरसे गर्भमें आता है या दूसरा शरीर धारण करता है। आप यह रहस्य मुझे बताइये। मैं संशय होनेके कारण पूछता हूँ

Transliteration

aṣṭaka uvāca— anyad varapūrvaviddhātīha garbham utāhosvit svena kāyena yāti | āpasadyamāno narayonim etām ācakṣva me saṁśayāt prabravīmi ||

Translation

Aṣṭaka said: “O king, tell me this clearly. When a being comes to enter the human womb, does it arrive bearing the very same body it had before, or does it assume another body? I ask because I am beset by doubt, and I seek to understand the hidden truth of how embodied life takes birth.”

Word by Word

• {'aṣṭaka uvāca': 'Aṣṭaka said', 'anyat': 'another, different', 'vara': 'O excellent one

• also ‘boon/excellent’ (here: vocative sense, addressing the interlocutor respectfully)', 'pūrva': 'former, previous', 'viddhāti (viddhi + āti/iti sandhi)': 'know/understand

• ‘please tell/clarify’ (sense: instruct me)', 'iha': 'here, in this matter/world', 'garbham': 'the womb

• gestation', 'utāho svit': 'or else?

• or perhaps?', 'svena': 'with one’s own', 'kāyena': 'with the body', 'yāti': 'goes, comes, proceeds', 'āpasadyamānaḥ': 'being assailed/pressed upon

• being afflicted', 'nara-yoni': 'human womb

• human birth', 'etām': 'this (feminine accusative)', 'ācakṣva': 'tell, explain, declare', 'me': 'to me', 'saṁśayāt': 'from/owing to doubt', 'prabravīmi': 'I speak forth

Speaker

अष्टक उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Aṣṭaka
• a king (addressed interlocutor)
• human womb (nara-yoni)
• body (kāya)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames a classical Mahābhārata inquiry into rebirth: how the jīva enters a new human birth—whether it arrives with a prior body or takes up a new embodiment—highlighting the tradition’s emphasis on seeking clarity about karma, transmigration, and the mechanics of embodied existence.

What is happening in the narrative?

Aṣṭaka respectfully questions a kingly interlocutor, admitting his doubt, and asks for an explanation of the mystery of conception and human birth—specifically, what ‘body’ (if any) accompanies the being into the womb and whether a new body is assumed.