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Consider the following statement:

The five jewels of bows born by the five sons of Draupadi were the Raudra, the Agneya, the Kauverya, the Yamya, and the Girisa.

What is the meaning of born by in this context? Does it mean that the five bows (Raudra, the Agneya, the Kauverya, the Yamya, and the Girisa) are possessed by the five sons of Draupadi?

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  • Please tell us the source. Link to it if possible.
    – James K
    Commented Nov 12, 2018 at 21:48

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"Borne by" means "carried by". The bows are carried by the five sons. "Born" without an 'e', used as the past participle of 'bear' (meaning 'carry') is an error. Borne is the past participle of the verb 'bear' in all senses except the one related to birth. The error is found in many online copies of one English version of The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa.

Born vs. Borne

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  • Yes, then you need to spell it out: carried by, borne by them.
    – Lambie
    Commented Nov 12, 2018 at 21:27
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In this case, it's the verb "bear", specifically definition 2c on merriam-webster.com:

to be equipped or furnished with (something)

It's sometimes spelled with an "e" ("borne"), which disambiguates it from the adjective "born".

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