Shloka 22

Devanagari script

तृतीयं गृह्यृतां पुत्र वरमप्रतिमं महत्‌ । त्वं हि मत्प्रभवों राजन्‌ विदुरश्चन ममांशज:,“बेटा! तुम तीसरा भी महान्‌ एवं अनुपम वर माँग लो। राजन्‌! तुम मेरे पुत्र हो और विदुरने भी मेरे ही अंशसे जन्म लिया है”

Transliteration

tṛtīyaṃ gṛhṇīṣva putra varam apratimaṃ mahat | tvaṃ hi matprabhavo rājan viduraś ca na mama aṃśajaḥ ||

Translation

Vaiśampāyana nói: “Con trai ta, hãy chọn cả ân huệ thứ ba nữa—vĩ đại và vô song. Hỡi đức vua, ngươi sinh ra từ ta; và Vidura cũng sinh ra từ một phần bản thể của ta.”

Word by Word

तृतीयम्a third (boon)

गृह्यhaving taken (accepted)

ऋताम्of the truthful/virtuous (women/ones)

पुत्रO son

वरम्boon

अप्रतिमम्incomparable

महत्great

त्वम्you

हिindeed/for

मत्from me

प्रभवःborn/originating

राजन्O king

विदुरःVidura

चand

नalso/indeed (emphatic particle in some readings) / not (if negative)

ममmy/of me

अंशजःborn of a portion (partial incarnation/offspring)

Speaker

वैशम्पायन उवाच

Characters & Entities

Vaiśampāyana

Vidura

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse underscores ethical responsibility grounded in kinship and origin: the giver of boons frames the recipient as ‘my own’ and includes Vidura as an emanational offspring, implying that favors and duties should be guided by recognition of shared lineage and moral accountability.

What is happening in the narrative?

A speaker (reported by Vaiśampāyana) urges a king addressed as ‘son’ to request a third, incomparable boon, while affirming a close relationship: the king is said to be born from the speaker, and Vidura is also described as born from the speaker’s own portion.