Shloka 12

वेन-पृथु-प्रादुर्भावः, राजधर्मः, पृथिवीदोहनम्

Vena–Pṛthu Episode and the Milking of Earth

Devanagari script

स मातामहदोषेण तेन मृत्योः सुतात्मजः निसर्गाद् एव मैत्रेय दुष्टभावो व्यजायत

Transliteration

sa mātāmahadoṣeṇa tena mṛtyoḥ sutātmajaḥ nisargād eva maitreya duṣṭabhāvo vyajāyata

Translation

Ó Maitreya, por culpa herdada do avô materno, aquele filho nascido na linhagem de Mṛtyu veio ao mundo, desde o início, com índole perversa.

Word by Word

सःhe

मातामहदोषेणdue to the maternal-grandfather’s fault

तेनby that/therefore

मृत्योःof Death (Mṛtyu)

सुतात्मजःgrandson (son’s son)

निसर्गात्by nature

एवindeed

मैत्रेयO Maitreya

दुष्टभावःevil disposition

व्यजायतarose/was born

Speaker

Sage Parāśara

Characters & Entities

Maitreya

Mṛtyu (Death)

FAQs

What is the significance of ancestral fault (mātāmahadoṣa) in the Vishnu Purana?

This verse uses the idea of a maternal-grandfather’s doṣa to explain moral causality across generations—how tendencies can manifest “from birth itself” as part of the Purāṇic framework of karma and inherited dispositions.

How does Sage Parāśara explain the arising of a wicked disposition (duṣṭabhāva)?

Parāśara frames it as a consequence of prior causes—here, a specific ancestral defect—so the character of a descendant is narrated as the fruition of earlier moral conditions, not as a random event.

What is the theological importance of Lord Vishnu in this context?

Even when Vishnu is not named in the verse, the Vishnu Purana’s genealogical histories operate under Vishnu’s supreme governance of ṛta/dharma—presenting moral order and karmic fruition as aspects of the universe sustained by the Supreme Reality.