Shloka 38

Ajñātavāsa-saṅkalpaḥ — Yudhiṣṭhira’s Resolve and Dhaumya’s Exempla on Concealment

Devanagari script

सावित्रयुवाच ममानपत्य: पृथिवीपति: पिता भवेत्‌ पितु: पुत्रशतं तथौरसम्‌ | कुलस्य सन्‍्तानकरं च यद्‌ भवेत्‌ तृतीयमेतद्‌ वरयामि ते वरम्‌,सावित्रीने कहा--भगवन्‌! मेरे पिता महाराज अभश्वपति पुत्रहीन हैं; उन्हें सौ ऐसे औरस पुत्र प्राप्त हों, जो उनके कुलकी संतानपरम्पराको चलानेवाले हों। मैं आपसे यही तीसरा वर माँगती हूँ

Transliteration

Sāvitrī uvāca: mamānapatyaḥ pṛthivīpatiḥ pitā bhavet pituḥ putraśataṃ tathaurasam | kulasya santānakaraṃ ca yad bhavet tṛtīyam etad varayāmi te varam ||

Translation

Savitri thưa: “Bạch đấng tôn nghiêm, phụ vương của con—vị quân vương trên mặt đất—hiện không có con nối dõi. Xin ban cho người một trăm người con trai chính thống, để dòng dõi được tiếp nối. Đó là ân huệ thứ ba con xin chọn từ Ngài.”

Word by Word

• {'Sāvitrī uvāca': 'Savitri said', 'mama': 'my', 'anapatyaḥ': 'without offspring, childless', 'pṛthivīpatiḥ': 'lord of the earth

• king', 'pitā': 'father', 'bhavet': 'may he become / may he have (a state come to be)', 'pituḥ': 'for the father / of my father', 'putraśatam': 'a hundred sons', 'tathā': 'thus, indeed', 'aurasam': 'true-born

• legitimate', 'kulasya': 'of the family/lineage', 'santānakaram': 'producing continuity of descendants

• ensuring succession', 'ca': 'and', 'yat': 'which', 'tṛtīyam': 'third', 'etat': 'this', 'varayāmi': 'I choose, I request', 'te': 'from you / your', 'varam': 'boon'}

Speaker

यम उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Sāvitrī
• Yama
• Aśvapati (Savitri’s father)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse highlights dharma as responsibility toward family continuity and social order: Savitri uses her boon not for personal gain but to secure legitimate heirs for her father, preserving lineage (kula-santāna) and rightful succession.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the boon-granting dialogue with Yama, Savitri asks as her third boon that her childless father, King Aśvapati, receive a hundred true-born sons who will continue the family line.