Shloka 22

नियोगप्रसङ्गः — The Niyoga Episode: Births of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Pāṇḍu, and Vidura

Devanagari script

नाम्ना जितवती नाम रूपयौवनशालिनी । उशीनरस्य राजर्षे: सत्यसंधस्य धीमत:

Transliteration

nāmnā jitavatī nāma rūpayauvanaśālinī | uśīnarasya rājarṣeḥ satyasaṃdhasya dhīmataḥ |

Translation

ヴァイシャンパーヤナは言った。「その名はジタヴァティ。美貌と若さの盛りに輝く者。真実に堅く、智に富む王仙ウシーナラの娘である。人間界において美の誉れ高き彼女のために、尊き方よ、私はこの牝牛を子牛とともに得たいと強く願うのです。」

Word by Word

• {'nāmnā': 'by name', 'jitavatī': "Jitavatī (proper name

• lit. 'the victorious one')", 'nāma': 'indeed

• named', 'rūpa': 'form, beauty', 'yauvana': 'youth', 'śālinī': 'possessing, endowed with', 'uśīnarasya': 'of Uśīnara', 'rājarṣi': 'royal sage (king-sage)', 'satyasaṃdha': 'firm in truth

• one whose vow is truth', 'dhīmat': 'wise, intelligent'}

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vaiśampāyana
• Jitavatī
• Uśīnara
• cow
• calf

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse foregrounds ethical valuation of satya (truth) through the epithet satyasaṃdha for Uśīnara, while also showing how desire and social reputation (fame for beauty) can motivate actions—setting up a dharmic tension between attraction/possession and right conduct.

What is happening in the narrative?

The narrator identifies a celebrated young woman, Jitavatī, as the daughter of the truthful and wise royal sage Uśīnara, and states that for her sake the speaker strongly wishes to take a particular cow together with its calf—introducing the motive behind an intended acquisition.