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

毗湿摩说道：“民之君啊，凡欲得子者，若为求后嗣而迎娶一位已然怀孕的女子，则由其胎腹所生之子，应依法认作丈夫（与她成婚者）之子。在此情形下，授种者无权主张；此子不按授种者之子论，而依‘田生’（kṣetraja）之法归于丈夫一方。”

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.