Shloka 42

Virāṭa-parva Adhyāya 21 — Kīcaka’s clandestine approach and Bhīma’s covert intervention (नर्तनागारे कीचकवध-प्रसङ्गः)

Devanagari script

भर्ता तु भार्यया रक्ष्य: कथं जायान्ममोदरे | वदतां वर्णधर्मश्ने ब्राह्मणानामिति श्रुत:,मैंने वर्णधर्मका उपदेश देनेवाले ब्राह्मणोंके मुँहले सुना है, पत्नीको पतिकी रक्षा इसलिये करनी चाहिये कि यह किसी दिन मेरे पेटसे पुत्ररूपमें जन्म लेगा

Transliteration

bhartā tu bhāryayā rakṣyaḥ kathaṃ jāyān mamodare | vadatāṃ varṇadharmajñe brāhmaṇānām iti śrutaḥ ||

Translation

వర్ణధర్మాన్ని బోధించే బ్రాహ్మణుల నోట నేను విన్నాను—భర్తను భార్యే రక్షించాలి; లేకపోతే అతడు ఎట్లా నా గర్భంలో నుంచి ఎప్పుడైనా కుమారరూపంగా జన్మిస్తాడు?

Word by Word

भर्ताhusband

तुbut/indeed

भार्ययाby the wife

रक्ष्यःto be protected

कथम्how/why

जायात्may be born

ममof me/my

उदरेin (my) belly/womb

वदताम्of those who speak/teach

वर्णधर्मज्ञेin/among the knower of varna-dharma

ब्राह्मणानाम्of the Brahmins

इतिthus/so (quotative)

श्रुतःheard

Speaker

भीमसेन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīmasena

Brāhmaṇas

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

War Context

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Geographic Context

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse invokes a dharma-based norm: a wife has a duty to protect her husband, linked to the continuation of family and the possibility of progeny. Bhīma frames this as something he has ‘heard from Brāhmaṇas who teach varṇa-dharma,’ using traditional authority to support the ethical claim.

What is happening in the narrative?

Bhīmasena is speaking and cites what he has heard from learned Brāhmaṇas about household duty. He uses a sharp rhetorical question—‘how else could he be born in my womb?’—to stress the importance of safeguarding the husband for the sake of future offspring and lineage.