SB 9.20.37

SB 9.20.37

Devanagari

तं त्यक्तुकामां ममतां भर्तुस्त्यागविशङ्किताम् । नामनिर्वाचनं तस्य श्लोकमेनं सुरा जगु: ॥ ३७ ॥

Verse text

taṁ tyaktu-kāmāṁ mamatāṁ bhartus tyāga-viśaṅkitām nāma-nirvācanaṁ tasya ślokam enaṁ surā jaguḥ

Synonyms

tam that newly born baby ; tyaktu kāmām — who was trying to avoid ; mamatām unto Mamatā ; bhartuḥ tyāga viśaṅkitām — very much afraid of being forsaken by her husband because of giving birth to an illegitimate son ; nāma nirvācanam — a name-giving ceremony, or nāma-karaṇa ; tasya to the child ; ślokam verse ; enam this ; surāḥ the demigods ; jaguḥ enunciated .

Translation

Mamatā very much feared being forsaken by her husband for giving birth to an illegitimate son, and therefore she considered giving up the child. But then the demigods solved the problem by enunciating a name for the child.

Translation (Visvanatha Cakravarti Thakura)

Mamatā, fearing rejection by her husband for giving birth to an illegitimate son, wanted to give up the child. But then the devatās recited a verse to give a name to the child. From the curse of Bṛhaspati, the child Dīrghatamā was born blind. That child in the womb kicked the semen of Bṛhaspati with his heel, and it fell from the womb of Mamatā on the ground. It immediately took the form of child. Mamatā desired to reject that child produced from another man. The devatās then recited a verse to Mamatā who feared rejection by her husband. The verse was a talk between Bṛhaspati and Mamatā. The verse gives the child a name.

Purport

According to Vedic scripture, whenever a child is born there are some ceremonies known as jāta-karma and nāma-karaṇa, in which learned brāhmaṇas, immediately after the birth of the child, make a horoscope according to astrological calculations. But the child to which Mamatā gave birth was begotten by Bṛhaspati irreligiously, for although Mamatā was the wife of Utathya, Bṛhaspati made her pregnant by force. Therefore Bṛhaspati became bhartā. According to Vedic culture, a wife is considered the property of her husband, and a son born by illicit sex is called dvāja. The common word still current in Hindu society for such a son is doglā, which refers to a son not begotten by the husband of his mother. In such a situation, it is difficult to give the child a name according to proper regulative principles. Mamatā, therefore, was perplexed, but the demigods gave the child the appropriate name Bharadvāja, which indicated that the child born illegitimately should be maintained by both Mamatā and Bṛhaspati.