Shloka 15

कृपकृपी-जननम्

The Birth of Kṛpa and Kṛpī; Kṛpa’s Attainment of Astras

Devanagari script

पाण्डुरुवाच अप्रजस्य महाभागा न द्वारं परिचक्षते

Transliteration

pāṇḍur uvāca aprajasya mahābhāgā na dvāraṃ paricakṣate |

Translation

पाण्डुरुवाच—अप्रजस्य महाभागा न द्वारं परिचक्षते इति जनाः प्राहुः। अहं चाप्यप्रजः; तस्माद् दुःखसन्तप्तो युष्मान् किञ्चिद् याचे। तपोधनाः! अद्यापि पितृऋणात् न विमुक्तोऽस्मि; तेन चिन्तया परितप्यामि।

Word by Word

• {'pāṇḍuḥ': 'King Pāṇḍu', 'uvāca': 'said', 'aprajasya': 'of one without offspring

• childless', 'mahābhāgāḥ': 'greatly fortunate

• venerable (vocative plural)', 'na': 'not', 'dvāram': 'gate

• doorway (figuratively, access to heaven/merit)', 'paricakṣate': 'they point out/declare

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Pāṇḍu
• mahārṣigaṇa (company of great sages)
• pitaraḥ (ancestors)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse foregrounds the dharmic idea of pitṛ-ṛṇa: one is obligated to continue the lineage and offer ancestral rites; childlessness is portrayed as a spiritual and ethical anxiety because it threatens the fulfillment of duties to the ancestors and the continuity of dharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

King Pāṇḍu addresses a group of sages, lamenting his lack of offspring and the resulting fear that he cannot discharge his ancestral obligations; he prepares to petition them for guidance or means to obtain children and thereby fulfill his duties.