Śrīmad Bhāgavatam 1.12.7

mātur garbha-gato vīraḥ

sa tadā bhṛgu-nandana

dadarśa puruṣaḿ kañcid

dahyamāno 'stra-tejasā

SYNONYMS

mātuḥ — mother; garbha — womb; gataḥ — being situated there; vīraḥ — the great fighter; saḥ — child Parīkṣit; tadā — at that time; bhṛgu-nandana — O son of Bhṛgu; dadarśa — could see; puruṣam — the Supreme Lord; kañcit — as someone else; dahyamānaḥ — suffering from being burned; astra — the brahmāstra; tejasā — temperature.

TRANSLATION

O son of Bhṛgu [Śaunaka], when the child Parīkṣit, the great fighter, was in the womb of his mother, Uttarā, and was suffering from the burning heat of the brahmāstra [thrown by Aśvatthāmā], he could observe the Supreme Lord coming to him.

PURPORT

Death generally involves remaining in trance for seven months. A living being, according to his own action, is allowed to enter into the womb of a mother by the vehicle of a father's semina, and thus he develops his desired body. This is the law of birth in specific bodies according to one's past actions. When he is awake from trance, he feels the inconvenience of being confined within the womb, and thus he wants to come out of it and sometimes fortunately prays to the Lord for such liberation. Mahārāja Parīkṣit, while in the womb of his mother, was struck by the brahmāstra released by Aśvatthāmā, and he was feeling the burning heat. But because he was a devotee of the Lord, the Lord at once appeared Himself within the womb by His all-powerful energy, and the child could see that someone else had come to save him. Even in that helpless condition, the child Parīkṣit endured the unbearable temperature due to his being a great fighter by nature. And for this reason the word vīraḥ has been used.