Shloka 16

च्यवन-कुशिक-संवादः

Cyavana–Kuśika Dialogue on Hospitality, Service, and Lineage Questions

Devanagari script

पुत्रकामो हि पुत्रार्थे यां वृणीते विशाम्पते । क्षेत्रजं तु प्रमाणं स्यान्न वै तत्रात्मज: सुत:

Transliteration

putrakāmo hi putrārthe yāṁ vṛṇīte viśāmpate | kṣetrajāṁ tu pramāṇaṁ syān na vai tatrātmajaḥ sutaḥ prajānātha |

Translation

Sabi ni Bhīṣma: “O panginoon ng bayan, ang lalaking nagnanais ng anak, kapag tinanggap niya bilang asawa ang isang babaeng buntis na, at ginawa niya ito upang magkaanak, ang batang isisilang mula sa sinapupunang iyon ay dapat kilalaning ayon sa batas na anak ng asawa (yaong nagpakasal sa kanya). Sa gayong kalagayan, walang pag-angkin ang nagbigay-binhi; ang bata ay hindi ituturing na anak niya, kundi anak ng asawa ayon sa tuntunin ng kṣetraja na angkan.”

Word by Word

• {'putrakāmaḥ': 'one who desires a son', 'hi': 'indeed, for', 'putrārthe': 'for the purpose of a son/offspring', 'yām': 'whom (a woman)', 'vṛṇīte': 'chooses, accepts (in marriage)', 'viśāmpate': 'O lord of the subjects/people (vocative address)', 'kṣetrajām': 'the kṣetraja (child of the ‘field’—offspring legally assigned to the husband of the mother)', 'tu': 'but, indeed', 'pramāṇam': 'authoritative rule, legal proof/standard', 'syāt': 'should be, is to be', 'na': 'not', 'vai': 'certainly', 'tatra': 'there, in that case', 'ātmajaḥ': 'one’s own-born (biological) son', 'sutaḥ': 'son', 'prajānātha': 'O protector/lord of creatures/subjects'}

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhishma

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse states a dharma-legal principle: when a man marries a woman already pregnant specifically to obtain a child, the child is recognized as the husband’s son (kṣetraja), and the biological begetter has no paternal claim.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Bhīṣma’s instruction on dharma in the Anuśāsana Parva, he explains rules of sonship and lineage classification, clarifying who is considered the rightful father in a kṣetraja-type situation.