एवम् उक्ता तु सा देवी तथा चक्रे पतिव्रता ॥
यथोक्तम् एव तद् वाक्यं भद्रा पुत्रार्थिनी तदा ॥
सा तेन सुषुवे देवी शवेन मनुजाधिप ॥
त्रीञ् शाल्वांश् चतुरो मद्रान् सुतान् भरतसत्तम ॥
तथा त्वम् अपि मय्य् एव मनसा भरतर्षभ ॥
शक्तो जनयितुं पुत्रांस् तपोयोगबलान्वयात् ॥
evam uktā tu sā devī tathā cakre pativratā ||
yathoktam eva tad vākyaṃ bhadrā putrārthinī tadā ||
sā tena suṣuve devī śavena manujādhipa ||
trīñ śālvāṃś caturo madrān sutān bharatasattama ||
tathā tvam api mayy eva manasā bharatarṣabha ||
śakto janayituṃ putrāṃs tapoyogabalānvayāt ||
"Thus entreated, that gracious one, devoted to her husband, did as she had been told; and Bhadra, longing for sons, bore of that corpse, O lord of men, three sons named Shalva and four named Madra, O best of the Bharatas. So you too, upon me, by the power of thought, O bull of the Bharatas, are able to beget sons -- through the strength of austerity and yoga."
4bf98e26876f · published Jul 12, 2026, 4:41:49 PM UTC
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Here Kunti closes the tale with a direct inference: if the dead king, by the power of austerity, begot seven sons, then Pandu -- living and a great ascetic -- is all the more able to father children "by the power of thought, austerity, and yoga." Her hope is telling: she does not wish for another husband, but trusts in the spiritual strength of her own. Here is shown both the beauty of conjugal devotion and the truth about the power of tapas: accumulated spiritual power can achieve what is beyond the reach of flesh. Telling, too, is that Kunti still says nothing of her surest means -- the boon of Durvasa, by which the gods can be summoned for conception; she proposes instead that Pandu first test his own power. Thus the scripture, through Kunti's words, raises faithfulness and austerity above conception by the flesh -- and leads toward the resolution in which the Pandavas will be born not of the flesh but of gods summoned by mantra, through the power of purity and of a boon.