Shloka 19
तेन त्यक्तानसंत्याज्यानृषीनण्डगतान् वने
tena tyaktān asaṃtyājyān ṛṣīn aṇḍagatān vane | yadyapi mandapālena tyaktāḥ, tathāpi te tyājyā na āsan | ataḥ putraśokapīḍitā jaritāne khāṇḍavavane svaputrān na jahau | sā snehavihvalā svavṛttyā tān navajātān śiśūn bharayām āsa ||
その聖仙たちは、森の中でなお卵の内にあった時にマンダパーラに捨てられたとはいえ、真に捨て去られるべき者ではなかった。ゆえに、子を思う悲嘆に責められたジャリターは、カーンダヴァの森に息子たちを置き去りにはしなかった。母の情に打たれて心乱れつつも、彼女は自らの力で、生まれたばかりの雛たちを養い育て続けた。
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores dharma as responsibility toward dependents: even if someone abandons the vulnerable, they are not thereby rendered ‘abandonable.’ Compassion and parental duty require protection and sustained care, especially for those unable to protect themselves.
Vaiśaṃpāyana narrates that Mandapāla had left his offspring while they were still in eggs in the forest. Jaritā, distressed for her children, refuses to leave them in the Khāṇḍava forest and continues to nourish and raise the newborn chicks through her own efforts.