05189001a kathaM zikhaNDI gAGgeya kanyA bhUtvA satI tadA
05189001c puruSo 'bhavad yudhi zreSTha tan me brUhi pitAmaha 'Tell me, O grandsire, how Sikhandin, O gaGgA's son, having before been born a daughter, afterwards became a man, O foremost of warriors.'
05189002 bhISma uvAca 'bhISma said,
05189002a bhAryA tu tasya rAjendra drupadasya mahIpateH
05189002c mahiSI dayitA hy AsId aputrA ca vizAmM pate 'O great king, the eldest and beloved queen of king drupada was, O monarch, childless (at first).
05189003a etasminn eva kAle tu drupado vai mahIpatiH
05189003c apatyArthamM mahArAja toSayAmAsa zaGMkaram During those years, king drupada, O monarch, paid his adoration to the god Sankara for the sake of offspring,
05189004a asmadvadhArthanM nizcitya tapo ghoraM samAsthitaH resolving in his mind to compass my destruction and practising the austerest of penances.
05189004c lebhe kanyAmM mahAdevAt putro me syAd iti bruvan And he begged Mahadeva, saying, 'Let a son, and not a daughter, be born unto me.
05189005a bhagavan putram icchAmi bhISmamM praticikIrSayA I desire, O god, a son for revenging myself upon bhISma.'
05189005c ity ukto devadevena strIpumAMs te bhaviSyati Thereupon, that god of gods said unto him, 'Thou shalt have a child who will be a female and male.
05189006a nivartasva mahIpAla naitaj jAtv anyathA bhavet Desist, O king, it will not be otherwise.'
05189006c sa tu gatvA ca nagaramM bhAryAm idam uvAca ha Returning then to his capital, he addressed his wife, saying,
05189007a kRto yatno mayA devi putrArthe tapasA mahAn 'O great queen, great hath been the ascetic exertion made by me.
05189007c kanyA bhUtvA pumAn bhAvI iti cokto 'smi zamMbhunA Undergoing ascetic austerities, I paid my adorations to Siva, and I was told by Sambhu that my child becoming a daughter (first) would subsequently become a male person.
05189008a punaH punar yAcyamAno diSTam ity abravIc chivaH And though I solicited him repeatedly, yet Siva said,--
05189008c na tad anyad dhi bhavitA bhavitavyaM hi tat tathA This is Destiny's decree. It will not be otherwise. That which is destined must take place!'
05189009a tatasH sA niyatA bhUtvA RtukAle manasvinI Then that lady of great energy,
05189009c patnI drupadarAjasya drupadaM saMviveza ha the queen of king drupada, when her season came, observing all the regulations (about purity), approached drupada.
05189010a lebhe garbhaM yathAkAlaM vidhidRSTena hetunA And in due time the wife of Prishata conceived, agreeably to Destiny's decree,
05189010c pArSatAt sA mahIpAla yathA mAnM nArado 'bravIt as I was informed, O king, by Narada.
05189011a tato dadhAra taGM garbhanM devI rAjIvalocanA And that lady, of eyes like lotus-petals, continued to hold the embryo in her womb.
05189011c tAM sa rAjA priyAmM bhAryAnM drupadaH kurunandana
05189011e putrasnehAn mahAbAhusH sukhamM paryacarat tadA And, O son of kuru's race, the mighty-armed king drupada, from paternal affection, attended to every comfort of that dear wife of his. And, O kaurava, the wife of that lord of earth, the royal drupada, who was childless,
05189012a aputrasya tato rAjJo drupadasya mahIpateH
05189012c kanyAmM pravararUpAnM tAmM prAjAyata narAdhipa had all her wishes gratified. And in due time, O monarch, that goddess, the queen of drupada, gave birth to a daughter of great beauty.
05189013a aputrasya tu rAjJasH sA drupadasya yazasvinI Thereupon, the strong-minded wife of that king, the childless drupada,
05189013c khyApayAmAsa rAjendra putro jAto mameti vai gave out, O monarch, that the child she had brought forth was a son.
05189014a tatasH sa rAjA drupadaH pracchannAyA narAdhipa And then king drupada, O ruler of men,
05189014c putravat putrakAryANi sarvANi samakArayat caused all the rites prescribed for a male child to be performed in respect of that misrepresented daughter, as if she were really a son. And saying that the child was a son, drupada's queen kept her counsels very carefully. And no other man in the city, save Prishata, knew the sex of that child. Believing these words of that deity of unfading energy, he too concealed the real sex of his child, saying,--She is a son. And, O king, drupada caused all the rites of infancy, prescribed for a son, to be performed in respect of that child, and he bestowed the name of Sikhandin on her. I alone, through my spies and from Narada's words, knew the truth, informed as I previously was of the words of the god and of the ascetic austerities of ambA!''
05189015a rakSaNaJM caiva mantrasya mahiSI drupadasya sA
05189015c cakAra sarvayatnena bruvANA putra ity uta
05189015e na hi tAM veda nagare kaz cid anyatra pArSatAt
05189016a zraddadhAno hi tad vAkyanM devasyAdbhutatejasaH
05189016c chAdayAmAsa tAGM kanyAmM pumAn iti ca so 'bravIt
