अङ्गिरा जनयामास ब्रह्मवर्चस्विनः सुतान् ॥२॥
rathÄ«tarasyÄprajasya
bhÄryÄyÄá¹ tantave 'rthitaḥ
aá¹…girÄ janayÄm Äsa
brahma-varcasvinaḥ sutÄn
rathÄ«tarasya - of RathÄ«tara; aprajasya - who had no sons; bhÄryÄyÄm - unto his wife; tantave - for increasing offspring; arthitaḥ - being requested; aá¹…girÄḥ - the great sage Aá¹…girÄ; janayÄm Äsa - caused to take birth; brahma-varcasvinaḥ - who had brahminical qualities; sutÄn - sons.
RathÄ«tara had no sons, and therefore he requested the great sage Aá¹…girÄ to beget sons for him. Because of this request, Aá¹…girÄ begot sons in the womb of RathÄ«tara’s wife. All these sons were born with brahminical prowess.
In the Vedic age a man was sometimes called upon to beget sons in the womb of a lesser man’s wife for the sake of better progeny. In such an instance, the woman is compared to an agricultural field. A person possessing an agricultural field may employ another person to produce food grains from it, but because the grains are produced from the land, they are considered the property of the owner of the land. Similarly, a woman was sometimes allowed to be impregnated by someone other than her husband, but the sons born of her would then become her husband’s sons. Such sons were called ká¹£etra-jÄta. Because RathÄ«tara had no sons, he took advantage of this method.
