Canto 2 -
Ayodhyā-kāṇḍa
Chapter 74: Bharata Condemns Kaikeyī
Text 2.74.14
अङ्गप्रत्यङ्गजः पुत्रो हृदयाच्चापि जायते।
तस्मात्प्रियतमो मातुः प्रियत्वान्न तु बान्धवः॥
aṅga-pratyaṅgajaḥ putro hṛdayāc cāpi jāyate
tasmāt priyatamo mātuḥ priyatvān na tu bāndhavaḥ
aṅga-pratyaṅgajaḥ = is born from various limbs; putraḥ = a son; hṛdayāt = from the heart; ca api = and also; jāyate = is born; tasmāt = therefore; priyatamaḥ = he is dearest; mātuḥ = to his mother; priyatvāt = because he is just dear [to her]; na = is not [her dearest]; tu = but; bāndhavaḥ = a relative.
A son is born from various limbs and is also born from the heart. Therefore he is dearest to his mother. But a relative is not [dearest to her] because he is just dear [to her].1
To point out that separating a seminal son from his mother is intolerable to her, Bharata speaks this verse while considering the meaning of this Śruti text:
aṅgād aṅgāt sambhavasi hṛdayād abhijāyase
ātmā vai putra-nāmāsi sañjīva śaradaḥ śatam
“You have taken birth from my various limbs and have arisen from my very heart. You are my own self in the form of my son. May you live through a hundred autumns.”1 (Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa 14.9.8.4 and Bṛhad-āraṇyaka Upaniṣad 6.4.8)
Aṅga-pratyaṅgajaḥ indicates that a son is born from one’s vigor in his face, throat, chest, stomach, hands and feet as well as the eyes, nose, fingers and so on. This is indicated by the expression aṅgād aṅgāt (“from my various limbs”) in the above-mentioned Śruti text. That a son is born from one’s vigor in all parts of his body is stated in the Śruti:
yad etad retas tad etat sarvebhyo ’ṅgebhyas tejaḥ sambhūtam
“That which is semen is the vigor that has assembled from all parts of one’s body.” (Aitareya Upaniṣad 2.1)
But [what is referred to as] “semen” with reference to a woman is her blood.
The son is also born from the lotus in the heart, that is, the place of the jīvātmā in the heart. Therefore, a son is his mother’s dearest. But a relative, that is, her brother and so on, is not her dearest; he is only dear to her. It is implied that the distress of being separated from a son is intolerable because he is dearest to her.