cakre samucitāḥ kriyāḥ
cakre samucitāḥ kriyāḥ
baddhvā mṛgendraṁ tarasā
krīḍati sma sa bālakaḥ
In the forest, Kaṇva performed all the prescribed rites for the child. The boy would capture a lion by force and play with it.
|| 9.20.19 ||
taṁ duratyaya-vikrāntam
ādāya pramadottamā
harer aṁśāṁśa-sambhūtaṁ
bhartur antikam āgamat
Śakuntalā, the best of beautiful women, along with her son, whose strength was insurmountable and who was a partial expansion of the Supreme Lord, then went to her husband, Duṣmanta.
|| 9.20.20 ||
yadā na jagṛhe rājā
bhāryā-putrāv aninditau
śṛṇvatāṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ
khe vāg āhāśarīriṇī
When the King refused to accept his wife and son, who were both irreproachable, an unembodied voice spoke from the sky and was heard by everyone present.
He did not accept them because of fear of gossip from the people.
|| 9.20.21 ||
mātā bhastrā pituḥ putro
yena jātaḥ sa eva saḥ
bharasva putraṁ duṣmanta
māvamaṁsthāḥ śakuntalām
The voice said: O Mahārāja Duṣmanta! A son actually belongs to his father, whereas the mother is only a bag of skin. The father is born as the son. Therefore, accept your son and do not insult Śakuntalā.
Bhastrā means a bag made of skin. The mother is only a container. The son belongs to the father. Śruti says ātmā vai putranāmāsi: the father is called the son. (Baudhāyana Dharma-sūtra 2.2.3.14.3) Accept the son (bharasva). From this the name Bharata is derived.
|| 9.20.22 ||
reto-dhāḥ putro nayati
naradeva yama-kṣayāt
tvaṁ cāsya dhātā garbhasya
satyam āha śakuntalā
O King! The son saves the father who caused impregnation from going to the abode of Yamarāja. You are the actual procreator of this child. Śakuntalā speaks the truth.
You are the impregnator, the maker of a dynasty (retodhā). Or it can refer to the legitimate son, who holds the father’s semen in the form of his body. That son delivers the father from the abode of Yama. Smṛti says
punnāmno narakād yasmāt pitaraṁ trāyate sutaḥ
tasmāt putra iti proktaḥ svayam eva svayambhuvaḥ
The son is called putra because he delivers the father from the hell called “put.” Brahmā himself has said this. Manu Smṛti 9.138
Another version has putram. The meaning is then “When there is a dispute between a mother and father for attaining a son, the father, the impregnator, being righteous, brings the child from the abode of the definer of truth into this world. The mother does not do so.” After this, the King accepted his wife and child.
|| 9.20.23 ||
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