Shloka 9
Adhyāya 227: Duryodhana’s Deliberation and the Ghoṣa-yātrā Pretext
Dvaita-vana
षड्भिरेव तदा जातमाहुस्तद्वनवासिन: । सप्तर्षीनाह च स्वाहा मम पुत्रोडयमित्युत
ṣaḍbhir eva tadā jātam āhus tad-vanavāsinaḥ | saptarṣīn āha ca svāhā mama putro ’yam ity uta ||
Mārkaṇḍeya said: “At that time, the forest-dwellers declared that the child had been born from the six (Kṛttikās). And Svāhā, too, addressed the Seven Ṛṣis, saying, ‘Indeed, this is my son.’”
मार्कण्डेय उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse highlights how identity and legitimacy can be established through multiple forms of recognition—public testimony (the forest-dwellers) and authoritative declaration (Svāhā before the Saptarṣis). It reflects the epic’s concern with acknowledged lineage and socially affirmed truth.
Mārkaṇḍeya narrates a birth account: people in the forest say the child is ‘born of the six,’ and Svāhā addresses the Seven Ṛṣis, claiming the child as her son. The scene situates the child’s origin within a well-known mythic framework involving sages and divine figures.