Shloka 513

Adhyāya 90: Babhruvāhana’s Reception and the Commencement of Yudhiṣṭhira’s Aśvamedha

Devanagari script

भर्तुः प्रसादान्नारीणां रतिपुत्रफलं तथा । “माताका रज और पिताका वीर्य--इन दोनोंके मिलनेसे ही वंशपरम्परा चलती है। सत्रीके लिये पति ही सबसे बड़ा देवता है। नारियोंको जो रति और पुत्ररूप फलकी प्राप्ति होती है, वह पतिका ही प्रसाद है

Transliteration

bhartuḥ prasādān nārīṇāṃ ratiputraphalaṃ tathā |

Translation

Nakula said: “For women, the enjoyment of conjugal love and the fruit of offspring arise from the husband’s favor. It is through the union of the mother’s menstrual blood and the father’s semen that the lineage continues; therefore, for a woman, the husband is regarded as the highest deity.”

Word by Word

भर्तुःof the husband

प्रसादात्from (his) favor/grace

नारीणाम्of women

रतिsexual enjoyment/union

पुत्रफलम्the fruit in the form of a son (offspring as result)

तथाand likewise/also

Speaker

नकुल उवाच

Characters & Entities

Nakula

husband (bhartṛ)

women (nārī)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Cross References

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames conjugal intimacy and progeny as outcomes dependent on the husband’s goodwill, and it presents the husband as the primary object of reverence for a wife within the traditional householder-dharma framework, emphasizing continuity of lineage through the union of female and male reproductive principles.

What is happening in the narrative?

Nakula is articulating a normative view of marital duty and social order, explaining how family lineage is sustained and why, in that ethical-religious model, a wife is enjoined to honor her husband as her foremost deity.