The Pregnant King Quotes

“To be a woman is like becoming a prey, her every move watched by hungry predators. Every glance of man is a violation. No one is spared. No one. Not mother, not sister, not daughter. It is only fear of Dharma that keeps men in check.”
― Devdutt Pattanaik, The Pregnant King

“That’s unnatural.’ ‘Some would call it a miracle. Careful of the word unnatural. It reeks of arrogance. You are assuming you know the boundaries of nature. You don’t. There is more to life than your eyes can see. More than you can ever imagine. Nature comes from the mind of God. It is infinite. The finite human mind can never fathom it in totality.”
― Devdutt Pattanaik, The Pregnant King

“The female form lends itself best to represent matter because both create life within themselves. The male form lends itself best to represent soul because both create life outside themselves.”
― Devdutt Pattanaik, The Pregnant King

“Prayer earns merit. Merit makes life predictable. Keeps away accidents and surprises.”
― Devdutt Pattanaik, The Pregnant King

“Mandavya replied, ‘Long ago, Janaka, a forefather of your mother, organized a gathering of Rishis to find out the nature of truth. They discussed and debated the topic for years. Finally, Yagnavalkya concluded, “There is one truth which depends on the point of view, changes with history and geography. It is contextual, impermanent, incomplete. Then there is the opposite kind of truth, independent of all viewpoints, responding neither to history nor to geography. It is permanent and complete and known only to Prajapati, who sees all with his four heads. You and I are not Prajapati. We have only access to incomplete truths.”
― Devdutt Pattanaik, The Pregnant King

“On hearing this story, Yuvanashva told his mother, ‘That was a clever answer. But was it a correct answer? Who is really more beautiful? Lakshmi or Alakshmi?’
Shilavati replied, ‘There are no correct answers. There are only appropriate answers. And it all depends on one’s point of view. If I was Shiva, it would not matter who walked towards me and who walked away from me. Shiva is a hermit, indifferent to peace, prosperity, strife and poverty. Vishnu, however, is a guardian of society. A householder’s god. For him Lakshmi matters. She makes the world bountiful and joyful. Alakshmi, he shuns.”
― Devdutt Pattanaik, The Pregnant King

“Somvat had seen a creature such as Sthunakarna only on the walls of Ileshwara’s temple. Images of such deformed beasts lined the northern wall just below images of the Apsaras. ‘Because the world belongs not just to beautiful creatures,’ said the Pujari. ‘Shiva loves them. He is the indifferent one, who looks beyond bodies, beautiful and ugly, male and female, young and old, at the suffering soul.”
― Devdutt Pattanaik, The Pregnant King

“We shall address you as Nilakantha Bhairavi.’
‘Why Nilakantha?’
‘Because like Shiva, your throat is blue with a truth that threatens our sense of order. With compassion you withhold it and suffer it, until we are wise enough to receive it.’
‘You equate my truth with poison?’
‘The truth is not poison. It is our inability to handle it that makes it poisonous.’
‘Why Bhairavi?’
‘Because you terrify us with the infinite possibilities of the world. Tell us there is always something we do not know. You demand that we widen our vision and our vocabulary, so that we make room for all, and are frightened of nothing.”
― Devdutt Pattanaik, The Pregnant King

“All he saw were three burnt bodies, almost ash. Were these kings or hermits, he wondered. He was not even sure whether the ash belonged to men or women. Were they young? Old? Fire had wiped out all identity.
Yuvanashva picked up the ash and let it pass through his fingers. In the end this is all that remains of us. The flesh is burnt away. Was this flesh beautiful? Did this flesh bear a child? Did this flesh feel loved? Was it accepted? Rejected? Respected? Adored? Despised? It did not matter any more.”
― Devdutt Pattanaik, The Pregnant King

“Vipula told me that Yaja is the brother who loves the banyan tree and Upayaja is the one who admires the waterfall. But now I realize you don’t love the banyan tree; you love what it represents—that which does not change. And you,’ said Yuvanashva looking towards Upayaja, ‘you love not the waterfall but what it represents—that which changes. These are the two truths of the world that Yagnavalkya revealed long ago to Janaka. We are all trapped in the world of changes, where we feel trapped by destiny and propelled by desire. The point of life is to find that which does not change, the freedom from it all. Moksha.”
― Devdutt Pattanaik, The Pregnant King

“Vipula had said, ‘That is why words are not enough. We need grammar to string words into sentences, put everything in context. Sometimes even sentences fail to capture what we are trying to say. Prose is useless when speaking to the beloved. We need poetry.’
Jayanta had interjected then, ‘Words don’t matter, only feelings do.’
‘And how do we communicate feelings without words?’ Mandhata had asked.
In response, Jayanta had smiled and touched his brother, his eyes full of tenderness. Vipula watched Jayanta take his brother by the hand into the garden, and show him blue butterflies hovering over yellow flowers. Beauty of the world. Love between brothers. The affection of a teacher. All experienced without anything being spoken.”
― Devdutt Pattanaik, The Pregnant King

“Truth can terrify. But there are many who face truth fearlessly.”
― Devdutt Pattanaik, The Pregnant King

“And I am Somvati, father,’ said the woman. ‘Your daughter. I apologize for hurting you. I apologize for becoming a woman. But had I not became a woman, you would never have become my father.”
― Devdutt Pattanaik, The Pregnant King

“They did not like to know whose body they were burning. It gave them a personality. An identity. Someone’s child. Someone’s parent. Names made them wonder of the life lead by the dead before they came to the funeral pyre. The sufferings they left behind, and the desires they still clung too. Such thoughts made it difficult for them to sleep. Burning a nameless corpse was so much better—like burning garbage, a chore that did not stir a thought or a feeling.”
― Devdutt Pattanaik, The Pregnant King

“Pulomi did not deserve the pain of failure. No woman did. Simantini knew what it felt like to be isolated from the world for three days and three nights. She had years of experience. Restricted to the corner room of the women’s quarters. Looking out from the only window in the room. Watching the tamarind tree outside. The cradles on its branches. And the high wall beyond. Doing nothing all day except watching the blood flow out of the body and wiping it from time to time. Eating uncooked food. No spices. No meat. No fish. Not even boiled milk or butter. Being forced to mourn for the child that could have been. Feeling dirty and polluted. Touched by death, shunned by the living, finding comfort and empathy only in the arms of other menstruating women.”
― Devdutt Pattanaik, The Pregnant King

“Once, while wandering in the woods, they came upon the carcass of a wild buffalo teeming with maggots. ‘How disgusting,’ cringed Shilavati.
‘I don’t think the maggots will agree with you,’ said Prasenajit. Shilavati realized the wisdom in her husband’s simple words. The human way is not the only way in this world.”
― Devdutt Pattanaik, The Pregnant King

“Then it moved. A kick. Then another. The king woke up with a start. ‘Come here quickly. Feel this,’ he called the ghosts. They saw the excitement in the king’s eyes. They”
― Devdutt Pattanaik, The Pregnant King

“And then it begins
The search
For the fifth head of Brahma
His first have us words
His second gave us Grammar
His third gave us meter
His fourth gave us Melody
The last one is missing
The fifth
The head with meaning”
― Devdutt Pattanaik, The Pregnant King