Shloka 13
Vṛddha-kanyā-carita and Balarāma’s Kurukṣetra Inquiry (वृद्धकन्या-चरितम् / कुरुक्षेत्रफल-प्रश्नः)
ब्रह्मर्षे तव पुत्रो5यं त्वद्धक्त्या धारितो मया । दृष्टवा ते5प्सरसं रेतो यत् स्कन्न॑ प्रागलम्बुषाम्,प्रतिगृह्लीष्व पुत्र स््व॑ मया दत्तमनिन्दितम् | “ब्रह्मर्ष! यह आपका पुत्र है। इसे आपके प्रति भक्ति होनेके कारण मैंने अपने गर्भमें धारण किया था। ब्रह्मर्ष] पहले अलम्बुषा नामक अप्सराको देखकर जो आपका वीर्य स्खलित हुआ था, उसे आपके प्रति भक्ति होनेके कारण मैंने अपने गर्भमें धारण कर लिया था; क्योंकि मेरे मनमें यह विचार हुआ था कि आपका यह तेज नष्ट न होने पावे। अत: आप मेरे दिये हुए अपने इस अनिन्दनीय पुत्रको ग्रहण कीजिये”
brahmarṣe tava putro 'yaṁ tvadbhaktyā dhārito mayā | dṛṣṭvā te 'psarasaṁ reto yat skannaṁ prāgalambuṣām, pratigṛhṇīṣva putra svaṁ mayā dattam aninditam ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “O brahmarṣi, this is your son. Out of devotion to you I bore him in my womb. When you once beheld the apsaras Alambuṣā, the semen that fell from you then—I received it, moved by reverence, thinking that your spiritual power should not be wasted. Therefore accept this blameless son of yours, given by me.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames ascetic ‘tejas’ (spiritual potency) as something that should not be squandered; even an unintended emission is treated as meaningful, and devotion motivates its preservation and rightful placement within lineage, emphasizing ethical legitimacy (anindita) rather than scandal.
A woman (speaker within Vaiśampāyana’s narration) presents a child to a brahmarṣi, explaining that she conceived by receiving the semen that fell when the sage saw the apsaras Alambuṣā, and she asks him to accept the child as his own.