Itihāsa / Mahābhārata chronicle / Ādi · 3 of 50
3. The fisher-girl and the sage
Ādi (आदि)
Satyavatī's sons do not live long enough to give the kingdom an heir. Bhīṣma will not break the vow and father one. The line is about to stop. Satyavatī remembers a son she had before she was a queen, born of the sage Parāśara, a son born strange and left to become a sage himself. That son is Vyāsa, the same Vyāsa who will compose this poem. She calls him.
The custom she invokes is an old and harsh one. A widow, or a wife whose husband cannot give a child, may receive a child from a man appointed for that purpose. Vyāsa comes as he is, unwashed from austerity, frightening to look at. Ambikā shuts her eyes. The child is born blind: Dhṛtarāṣṭra. Ambālikā goes pale with fear. The child is born pale: Pāṇḍu. A third time a substitute is sent, a maid who meets the sage without terror, and the child is Vidura, not quite royal in birth, and the wisest man in the court.
Three brothers, and none of them is a simple king. One cannot see. One will be cursed if he goes to a woman. One can see everything and will be listened to last. Bhīṣma, who gave away the throne so that this line could exist, becomes the minister of a house he cannot inherit and cannot repair.
नेपालीमा
सत्यवतीका छोराहरू उत्तराधिकारी दिन नपुग्दै बिते। भीष्मले प्रतिज्ञा तोडेर सन्तान जन्माएनन्। वंश रोकिन लागेको छ। सत्यवतीले आफ्ना पुराना छोरा व्यासलाई सम्झिन्, जो रानी हुनुअघि ऋषि पराशरबाट जन्मेका थिए। यिनै व्यासले यो कविता रच्नेछन्। उनले व्यासलाई बोलाइन्। नियोगको चलनअनुसार अम्बिकाले आँखा चिम्लिँदा अन्धा धृतराष्ट्र जन्मे, अम्बालिका डरले फिक्का परेपछि फिक्का पाण्डु जन्मे, र तेस्रोपटक पठाइएकी दासीको छोरा विदुर भए, जो दरबारका सबैभन्दा बुद्धिमान् मानिस थिए। तीन दाजुभाइ, तर एक पनि सरल राजा होइन। भीष्म, जसले यो वंश रहोस् भनेर सिंहासन छाडे, आफूले उत्तराधिकार पाउन नसक्ने र बनाउन नसक्ने त्यही घरको मन्त्री भए।