Shloka 21
Akṛtavraṇa’s Account Begins: Gādhi–Satyavatī–Ṛcīka and the Bhārgava Lineage Prelude
वने तु तस्य वसत: कन्या जज्ञेडप्सर:समा | ऋचीको भार्गवस्तां च वरयामास भारत,इसी समय इस भूतलपर कान्यकुब्जदेशमें एक महाबली महाराज शासन करते थे जो गाधिके नामसे विख्यात थे। वे राजधानी छोड़कर वनमें गये और वहीं रहने लगे। उनके वनवासकालमें ही एक कन्या उत्पन्न हुई जो अप्सराके समान सुन्दरी थी। भारत! विवाहके योग्य होनेपर भृगुपुत्र ऋचीक मुनिने उसका वरण किया
vane tu tasya vasataḥ kanyā jajñe ’psaraḥ-samā | ṛcīko bhārgavas tāṃ ca varayāmāsa bhārata ||
Akṛtavraṇa said: While he was living in the forest, a daughter was born to him, beautiful like an apsaras. O Bhārata, when she came of marriageable age, the Bhārgava sage Ṛcīka chose her as his bride. The episode frames a royal household’s transition into forest-dwelling and then into a dharmic marriage alliance, where a sage’s lawful seeking of a bride becomes the pivot for later moral and genealogical consequences.
अकृतव्रण उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights dharmic social conduct: even amid forest life, life proceeds through lawful stages—birth, maturity, and marriage—where a sage seeks a bride through accepted norms, setting the ethical groundwork for later consequences tied to lineage and conduct.
A king living in the forest has a daughter of extraordinary beauty. When she becomes marriageable, the Bhārgava sage Ṛcīka formally chooses her as his bride, initiating a significant marital alliance that will shape subsequent genealogical developments.