Text 30] King Citraketu’s Lamentation 27

lamentation.” The sage then left, without waiting for Citraketu’s
response.

PURPORT

The word harsa means “‘jubilation,” and soka means “lamentation.”
The King was overwhelmed with joy when he understood that he would
have a son. Because of his great jubilation, he could not actually under-
stand the statement of the sage Angira. He accepted it to mean that there
would certainly be jubilation because of the birth of his future son, but
that he would be the King’s only son and, being very proud of his great
wealth and empire, would not be very obedient to his father. Thus the
King was satisfied, thinking, “Let there be a son. It does not matter if he
is not very obedient.” In Bengal there is a proverb that instead of having
no maternal uncle, it is better to have a maternal uncle who is blind. The
King accepted this philosophy, thinking that a disobedient son would be
better than no son at all. The great sage Canakya Pandita says:

ko ’rthah putrena jatena
yo na vidvan na dharmikah
kanena caksusa kim va

caksuh pidaiva kevalam

‘What is the use of a son who is neither a learned scholar nor a devotee?
Such a son is like a blind, diseased eye, which always causes suffering.”
Nevertheless, the material world is so polluted that one wants to have a
son even though he is useless. This attitude was represented in the
history of King Citraketu.

TEXT 30

aft qenaatea | Rartatcarad |
mt paratead strata 112011

sapi tat-prasanad eva
citraketor adharayat

garbham krtadyutir devi
krttikagner ivatmajam
