भीष्म उवाच
शिखण्डिवाक्यं श्रुत्वाथ स यक्षो भरतर्षभ ॥
प्रोवाच मनसा चिन्त्य दैवेनोपनिपीडितः ॥
भवितव्यं तथा तद् धि मम दुःखाय कौरव ॥
भद्रे कामं करिष्यामि समयं तु निबोध मे ॥
किं चित् कालान्तरं दास्ये पुंलिङ्गं स्वम् इदं तव ॥
आगन्तव्यं त्वया काले सत्यम् एतद् ब्रवीमि ते ॥
प्रभुः संकल्पसिद्धो ऽस्मि कामरूपी विहंगमः ॥
मत्प्रसादात् पुरं चैव त्राहि बन्धूंश् च केवलान् ॥
स्त्रीलिङ्गं धारयिष्यामि त्वदीयं पार्थिवात्मजे ॥
सत्यं मे प्रतिजानीहि करिष्यामि प्रियं तव ॥
शिखण्ड्य् उवाच
प्रतिदास्यामि भगवंल् लिङ्गं पुनर् इदं तव ॥
किं चित् कालान्तरं स्त्रीत्वं धारयस्व निशाचर ॥
bhīṣma uvāca
śikhaṇḍivākyaṃ śrutvātha sa yakṣo bharatarṣabha ||
provāca manasā cintya daivenopanipīḍitaḥ ||
bhavitavyaṃ tathā tad dhi mama duḥkhāya kaurava ||
bhadre kāmaṃ kariṣyāmi samayaṃ tu nibodha me ||
kiṃ cit kālāntaraṃ dāsye puṃliṅgaṃ svam idaṃ tava ||
āgantavyaṃ tvayā kāle satyam etad bravīmi te ||
prabhuḥ saṃkalpasiddho 'smi kāmarūpī vihaṃgamaḥ ||
matprasādāt puraṃ caiva trāhi bandhūṃś ca kevalān ||
strīliṅgaṃ dhārayiṣyāmi tvadīyaṃ pārthivātmaje ||
satyaṃ me pratijānīhi kariṣyāmi priyaṃ tava ||
śikhaṇḍy uvāca
pratidāsyāmi bhagavaṃl liṅgaṃ punar idaṃ tava ||
kiṃ cit kālāntaraṃ strītvaṃ dhārayasva niśācara ||
Bhishma said: 'Having heard Shikhandin's words, the yaksha, O best of the Bharatas, pondered them in his mind and, oppressed by fate, said: "So it must be, O Kaurava: this will bring me suffering. O gracious one, I will grant your wish, but hear my condition. For some time I will give you my male sex. At the appointed time you must return it — this is the truth I speak to you. I am a lord whose will is always fulfilled, one who takes any form and moves swiftly. By my grace, protect the city and all your kin. O king's daughter, I will bear your female sex. Promise me truly, and I will do what is dear to you." Shikhandin said: "O lord, I will return this sex to you again. Bear my womanhood only for some time, O night-wanderer."'
02f30b387d2e · publicado 17 jul 2026, 6:41:26 UTC
Disponible enRUENPasa de verso en verso con
This chapter completes the story of Shikhandin: Amba's fate takes effective form through a temporary exchange of sex with the yaksha Sthuna. The yaksha's grace saves Drupada from war and makes Shikhandin a man, but the grace itself has a price: Kubera punishes Sthuna for willfully breaking the order of things. Bhishma has heard all this from his spies, and so sees in Shikhandin not an ordinary warrior but the former Amba, born for his death. His refusal to fight one who was a woman becomes not weakness but the continuation of his own vow and the boundary of dharma that he does not cross even in battle.