Shloka 77
Adhyāya 123 — Droṇa’s Pedagogy: Arjuna’s Preeminence, Ekalavya’s Self-Training, and the Bhāsa-Lakṣya Trial
नातश्षतुर्थ प्रसवमापत्स्वपि वदन्त्युत । अतः: परं स्वैरिणी स्थाद् बन्धकी पञ्चमे भवेत्
Vaiśampāyana uvāca | nātaś caturtha-prasavam āpatsu api vadanty uta | ataḥ paraṁ svairiṇī syād bandhakī pañcame bhavet ||
ヴァイシャンパーヤナは語った。「アーリヤプトラよ。たとえ窮迫の時であっても、シャーストラは定められた限度を越えて第四の子をもうけることを是としない。ゆえに、その度を過ぎて子を求める女は ‘svairiṇī’――自らの欲するままに振る舞い、節を失った者と見なされ、さらに第五の子が生まれれば ‘bandhakī’――不名誉の女とされる。」
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse asserts that dharma-śāstra places limits on procreation and that even in hardship (āpatsu) one should not transgress prescribed boundaries; exceeding them is framed as a moral and social lapse.
Vaiśampāyana, as narrator, cites a normative śāstric rule: seeking offspring beyond the allowed number is censured, with escalating labels (‘svairiṇī’, then ‘bandhakī’) used to mark increasing transgression.