त्रिषु वर्षेषु पूर्णेषु प्रजाताहम् अरिंदम ॥
इमं कुमारं राजेन्द्र तव शोकप्रणाशनम् ॥
आहर्ता वाजिमेधस्य शतसंख्यस्य पौरव ॥
इति वाग् अन्तरिक्षे मां सूतके ऽभ्यवदत् पुरा ॥
ननु नामाङ्कम् आरोप्य स्नेहाद् ग्रामान्तरं गताः ॥
मूर्ध्नि पुत्रान् उपाघ्राय प्रतिनन्दन्ति मानवाः ॥
वेदेष्व् अपि वदन्तीमं मन्त्रवादं द्विजातयः ॥
जातकर्मणि पुत्राणां तवापि विदितं तथा ॥
अङ्गाद् अङ्गात् संभवसि हृदयाद् अभिजायसे ॥
आत्मा वै पुत्रनामासि स जीव शरदः शतम् ॥
पोषो हि त्वदधीनो मे संतानम् अपि चाक्षयम् ॥
तस्मात् त्वं जीव मे वत्स सुसुखी शरदां शतम् ॥
त्वदङ्गेभ्यः प्रसूतो ऽयं पुरुषात् पुरुषो ऽपरः ॥
सरसीवामले ऽऽत्मानं द्वितीयं पश्य मे सुतम् ॥
यथा ह्य् आहवनीयो ऽग्निर् गार्हपत्यात् प्रणीयते ॥
तथा त्वत्तः प्रसूतो ऽयं त्वम् एकः सन् द्विधा कृतः ॥
मृगापकृष्टेन हि ते मृगयां परिधावता ॥
अहम् आसादिता राजन् कुमारी पितुर् आश्रमे ॥
उर्वशी पूर्वचित्तिश् च सहजन्या च मेनका ॥
विश्वाची च घृताची च षड् एवाप्सरसां वराः ॥
तासां मां मेनका नाम ब्रह्मयोनिर् वराप्सराः ॥
दिवः संप्राप्य जगतीं विश्वामित्राद् अजीजनत् ॥
सा मां हिमवतः पृष्ठे सुषुवे मेनकाप्सराः ॥
अवकीर्य च मां याता परात्मजम् इवासती ॥
किं नु कर्माशुभं पूर्वं कृतवत्य् अस्मि जन्मनि ॥
यद् अहं बान्धवैस् त्यक्ता बाल्ये संप्रति च त्वया ॥
कामं त्वया परित्यक्ता गमिष्याम्य् अहम् आश्रमम् ॥
इमं तु बालं संत्यक्तुं नार्हस्य् आत्मजम् आत्मना ॥
triṣu varṣeṣu pūrṇeṣu prajātāham ariṃdama ||
imaṃ kumāraṃ rājendra tava śokapraṇāśanam ||
āhartā vājimedhasya śatasaṃkhyasya paurava ||
iti vāg antarikṣe māṃ sūtake 'bhyavadat purā ||
nanu nāmāṅkam āropya snehād grāmāntaraṃ gatāḥ ||
mūrdhni putrān upāghrāya pratinandanti mānavāḥ ||
vedeṣv api vadantīmaṃ mantravādaṃ dvijātayaḥ ||
jātakarmaṇi putrāṇāṃ tavāpi viditaṃ tathā ||
aṅgād aṅgāt saṃbhavasi hṛdayād abhijāyase ||
ātmā vai putranāmāsi sa jīva śaradaḥ śatam ||
poṣo hi tvadadhīno me saṃtānam api cākṣayam ||
tasmāt tvaṃ jīva me vatsa susukhī śaradāṃ śatam ||
tvadaṅgebhyaḥ prasūto 'yaṃ puruṣāt puruṣo 'paraḥ ||
sarasīvāmale ''tmānaṃ dvitīyaṃ paśya me sutam ||
yathā hy āhavanīyo 'gnir gārhapatyāt praṇīyate ||
tathā tvattaḥ prasūto 'yaṃ tvam ekaḥ san dvidhā kṛtaḥ ||
mṛgāpakṛṣṭena hi te mṛgayāṃ paridhāvatā ||
aham āsāditā rājan kumārī pitur āśrame ||
urvaśī pūrvacittiś ca sahajanyā ca menakā ||
viśvācī ca ghṛtācī ca ṣaḍ evāpsarasāṃ varāḥ ||
tāsāṃ māṃ menakā nāma brahmayonir varāpsarāḥ ||
divaḥ saṃprāpya jagatīṃ viśvāmitrād ajījanat ||
sā māṃ himavataḥ pṛṣṭhe suṣuve menakāpsarāḥ ||
avakīrya ca māṃ yātā parātmajam ivāsatī ||
kiṃ nu karmāśubhaṃ pūrvaṃ kṛtavaty asmi janmani ||
yad ahaṃ bāndhavais tyaktā bālye saṃprati ca tvayā ||
kāmaṃ tvayā parityaktā gamiṣyāmy aham āśramam ||
imaṃ tu bālaṃ saṃtyaktuṃ nārhasy ātmajam ātmanā ||
«O tamer of foes, when three years had passed, I bore this child who dispels your sorrow. O Paurava, at his birth a voice once spoke to me from the sky: 'He will become the performer of a hundred horse-sacrifices.' Indeed, people who return from another village, out of love set their sons upon their laps, smell their heads, and joyfully greet them. The twice-born, even in the Vedas, at the birth-rite of sons, utter this sacred formula — and it is known to you as well: 'You arise from every limb of mine, you are born from my heart; you are my very self, called only by the name of ‘son’; live then a hundred autumns. My well-being depends upon you, and through you the line's continuation is inexhaustible; therefore, my child, live happily for me a hundred autumns.' This one, born of your own limbs, is another man from a man; as one sees one's own reflection in a clear lake, behold in him my second self — you yourself. As the fire of the ahavaniya is carried forth from the garhapatya fire, so this one is born from you; though you are one, you have, as it were, become two. O king, it was you, pursuing a deer in the chase, carried along by the hunt, who came upon me, a maiden, in my father's hermitage. Urvashi, Purvachitti, Sahajanya, Menaka, Vishvachi, and Ghritachi — these are the six finest of the apsaras. Among them, the lovely apsara named Menaka, born from the essence of Brahma, descended from heaven to earth and bore me by Vishvamitra. That apsara Menaka bore me on the ridge of the Himalayas and, faithless, abandoned me like another's child, and departed. What evil deed did I commit in a former birth, that I was abandoned by my kin in childhood, and now by you? Though forsaken by you, I will go to the hermitage; but this child, born of your own self, you have no right to reject.»
fe36bdb26fbb · published Jul 12, 2026, 3:37:30 PM UTC
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Here Shakuntala offers her final arguments, and her speech reaches a piercing depth of sorrow. Noteworthy is the Vedic formula spoken over a newborn: "you arise from every limb of mine, you are born from my heart; you are my very self, called by the name son." Here lies the depth of the teaching on the unity of father and son: the son is, as it were, the father himself born anew (atma vai putra-nama); therefore to reject the son is to reject oneself. Beautiful too is the image of fire: as the ahavaniya fire is kindled from the garhapatya fire, so the son comes from the father — one fire, though divided in two. Striking too is the bitter parallel: Shakuntala was abandoned by her mother, Menaka, in childhood, and now she is rejected by her husband; twice forsaken, she questions the karma of her past lives ("what evil deed did I commit?"). Here is faith in the justice of karma: the sufferer does not blame God, but looks for the cause within herself — though here the fault lies with those who abandoned her. And most noble of all is her final word: ready to depart on her own ("though forsaken, I will go"), she is concerned not for herself but for her son — "him you have no right to reject"; a mother's love rises above her own hurt.