अब्रवीद् भरतश्रेष्ठ द्रुपदः प्रणयानतः ॥
यद् आह मां भवान् ब्रह्मन् संबन्धिवचनाद् वचः ॥
तस्योत्तरं प्रतिवचो दूत एव वदिष्यति ॥
ततः संप्रेषयाम् आस द्रुपदो ऽपि महात्मने ॥
हिरण्यवर्मणे दूतं ब्राह्मणं वेदपारगम् ॥
समागम्य तु राज्ञा स दशार्णपतिना तदा ॥
तद् वाक्यम् आददे राजन् यद् उक्तं द्रुपदेन ह ॥
आगमः क्रियतां व्यक्तं कुमारो वै सुतो मम ॥
मिथ्यैतद् उक्तं केनापि तन् न श्रद्धेयम् इत्य् उत ॥
ततः स राजा द्रुपदस्य श्रुत्वा; विमर्शयुक्तो युवतीर् वरिष्ठाः ॥
संप्रेषयाम् आस सुचारुरूपाः; शिखण्डिनं स्त्री पुमान् वेति वेत्तुम् ॥
abravīd bharataśreṣṭha drupadaḥ praṇayānataḥ ||
yad āha māṃ bhavān brahman saṃbandhivacanād vacaḥ ||
tasyottaraṃ prativaco dūta eva vadiṣyati ||
tataḥ saṃpreṣayām āsa drupado 'pi mahātmane ||
hiraṇyavarmaṇe dūtaṃ brāhmaṇaṃ vedapāragam ||
samāgamya tu rājñā sa daśārṇapatinā tadā ||
tad vākyam ādade rājan yad uktaṃ drupadena ha ||
āgamaḥ kriyatāṃ vyaktaṃ kumāro vai suto mama ||
mithyaitad uktaṃ kenāpi tan na śraddheyam ity uta ||
tataḥ sa rājā drupadasya śrutvā; vimarśayukto yuvatīr variṣṭhāḥ ||
saṃpreṣayām āsa sucārurūpāḥ; śikhaṇḍinaṃ strī pumān veti vettum ||
Drupada, bowing with respect, said, O best of the Bharatas: "O brahmin, the answer to the words you spoke to me on behalf of my kinsman by marriage will be delivered by my own envoy." Then Drupada too sent to the magnanimous Hiranyavarman a brahmin envoy, a knower of the Veda. Meeting with the king, the lord of Dashārna, he delivered to him the words spoken by Drupada: "Let a clear verification be made. My son is indeed a young man. This has been falsely said by someone, and it should not be believed." Then the king, having heard Drupada's words and wishing to verify them, sent the finest and most beautiful young women to find out whether Shikhandin was a woman or a man.
fdf3057c2153 · publicado 17 jul 2026, 6:41:26 UTC
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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.