Shloka 41
Virāṭa-parva Adhyāya 21 — Kīcaka’s clandestine approach and Bhīma’s covert intervention (नर्तनागारे कीचकवध-प्रसङ्गः)
प्रजायां रक्ष्यमाणायामात्मा भवति रक्षित: । आत्मा हि जायते तस्यां तेन जायां विदुर्बुधा:,संतानकी रक्षा होनेपर अपना आत्मा सुरक्षित होता है। आत्मा ही पत्नीके गर्भसे पुत्ररूपमें जन्म लेता है। इसीलिये विद्वान् पुरुष पत्नीको “जाया” कहते हैं
prajāyāṃ rakṣyamāṇāyām ātmā bhavati rakṣitaḥ | ātmā hi jāyate tasyāṃ tena jāyāṃ vidur budhāḥ ||
Wika ni Bhīmasena: “Kapag napangangalagaan ang supling, napangangalagaan din ang mismong sarili. Sapagkat ang sarili, wari’y muling isinisilang sa pamamagitan niya—sa pamamagitan ng asawa—sa anyo ng isang anak na lalaki. Kaya tinatawag ng marurunong ang asawa na ‘jāyā’, ‘yaong pinagmumulan ng muling pagsilang’.”
भीमसेन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse links personal continuity and security with the protection of one’s progeny: safeguarding descendants is treated as safeguarding one’s own self. It also gives an etymological-ethical rationale for calling the wife ‘jāyā’—she is the one through whom a man is ‘born’ again as a son, emphasizing responsibility toward spouse and family line.
In the Virāṭa Parva context, Bhīma is speaking and articulates a dharma-based view of household life: the wife is honored as ‘jāyā’ because through her the lineage continues, and protecting that lineage is presented as a vital duty with direct bearing on one’s own welfare.