Shloka 60
Adhyāya 90: Babhruvāhana’s Reception and the Commencement of Yudhiṣṭhira’s Aśvamedha
पितोवाच अपि वर्षसहस्त्री त्वं बाल एव मतो मम । उत्पाद्य पुत्र हि पिता कृतकृत्यो भवेत् सुतात्,पिताने कहा--बेटा! तुम हजार वर्षके हो जाओ तो भी हमारे लिये बालक ही हो। पिता पुत्रको जन्म देकर ही उससे अपनेको कृतकृत्य मानता है
pitovāca api varṣa-sahasrī tvaṃ bāla eva mato mama | utpādya putra hi pitā kṛta-kṛtyo bhavet sutāt ||
The father said: “Even if you were to live for a thousand years, to me you would still be only a child. A father, indeed, becomes fulfilled—his duty accomplished—simply by bringing forth a son.”
पुत्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights the enduring parental perspective and the dharmic ideal that begetting and raising a son is traditionally seen as a father’s life-purpose being fulfilled; the child remains ‘a child’ in the father’s eyes regardless of age.
A father addresses his son affectionately and instructively, emphasizing that even great age does not change the son’s status as his child, and stating that fatherhood finds its completion in the birth of a son.