Mahabharata – 141

by

Sankar Mukherjee

&

Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya
                                   Aadivamsavatarana Parva

Shakuntala along with her son visited the king Dushmanta’s court on her own.King Dushmanta had married Shakuntala secretly.It was by this marriage that a son was born to Shakuntala. But at the court Dushmanta did not acknowledge Shakuntala as his lawful wife. In response Shakuntala argued that Dushmanta was a liar. The argument started in the earlier section.It continues in the present section as well.

Shkuntala posited that the  husband enters into the wife & is born as a son.Therefore the wife is called ‘Jayaa’ according to the puranic scriptures.If a person under goes  the Vedic rites he is born  in the womb of his wife as his son. And the process goes on through generations.That is how the ancestors are liberated from the hell named ‘Put.’ The wife is an agent of this process. She is the wife who is  efficient in household duties. She is the wife who has a son.She is the wife who loves her husband as her second self.She is the wife who is devoted to her husband.The wife is the half of a person.The wife is the best friend.The wife is the source of dharma,artha & kama.And she is the only way to liberation.The person having a wife is alone entitled for observing sacrifices.They are the householders.They can participate in merry social gatherings.They fit in every occasion fair speaking wife is the friend in a solitary place.The wife is as it were the father during the performance of  the religious rites.And she is like the  mother for an ailing person.In the  worldly life of a person. The wife is the only resting place for a man.The person having a wife earns  respectability.Therefore in the domestic life the wife is the only support.After death when the husband travels through the most difficult way,the devoted wife follows him.If the wife dies before her husband she waits in the other world for her husband.

Oh king!A person marries to  get the company of his wife in both the worlds.The wise say that the husband is reborn in the womb of his wife.Therefore the husband must treat his wife having a son as mother.As one sees the reflection of his own person in a mirror similarly a person sees own image in his son born through his wife.Just as a pious person becomes joyful in achieving the heaven similarly the father becomes cheerful seeing his son.As a person perspiring all over is contented after bathing in water,similarly the ailing & dejected person  feels cheerful united with his wife.Understanding that pleasure,love & dharma all are centered around one’s wife,the husband despite in anger never does any unpleasant act towards a woman.It is the woman who is the source of a man.  Without a woman even the sages can not procreate. What would be more pleasant than when the son covered by dust adores his father.Your son is here on his own & very much willing to be in your arms & glancing at you. Why are you  ignoring him? Even ants never leave their eggs. Rather they  maintain the eggs.And you being a righteous person why should you not maintain your son? Fine clothes,beautiful women & cold water may not be so pleasing as taking the son in the arms.Among the biped animals brahmanas are the best.Amongst the quadruped animals the cow is the best.Amongst the senior person father is the best.Similarly amongst the touchable objects the son is the most pleasant to touch.Let this handsome looking son of yours embrace you.There is nothing pleasant in the world other than the touch of a son.Oh king after the completion of three years from my conception I gave birth to this son & since then I could some how bear your separation.At the time of his birth a celestial voice announced that this boy of Puru clan would perform hundred horse sacrifices in future.Oh king! I feel that when a person leaving for abroad takes the son in his arms out of affection smelling his head he gets untold satisfaction.During the religious rites the brhamanas spell following slokas from Vedas ------- Oh my son you have originated from my heart & ideology.My soul is renamed as my son.May you live for hundred years.During old age you will maintain me.Your clan will be eternal.You be happy & live for hundred years.Oh king the boy originated from your ideology.Therefore from a male another male springs. As one sees reflection in a clean water of a pond similarly one soul becomes two.As the sacrificer produces Ahvaniya agni from garhyapatta agni.Similarly god  produced this boy from you.Therefore you are now divided into two from one.

Oh king! In the past you had been to the forest for hunting.A deer attracted you & you were carried away to the ashrama of the great sage Kanva.And you got me there in the virgin state.Urvashi,Purvachitti,Sahaajanya,Menaka,Biswachi & Ghritachi are the principal celestial dancers.The daughter of Brahma, Menaka is foremost among them.And she begot me  on the earth from the seed of Viswamitra.The hard hearted Menaka gave my birth on the planes of the Himalayas & she left me there to go back to her abode.For what offence in the past life my dear one left me in my early childhood,I do not know.And presently you left me.You are at liberty to leave me.In that situation I shall go back to my ashrama.But this boy is yours.Therefore you can not leave him.