Markandeyapurana 22.43

22.43

saṃgrāme yudhyamānā ye 'bhītā godvijarakṣaṇe /
kṣuṇṇāḥ śastrairvipadyante ta eva bhuvi mānavāḥ //

“The mother spoke:
‘Not such gratification did my mother or my sister get, O king! as I have felt in hearing that my son has been slain while protecting the Muni. Those who die, sighing, in great distress, afflicted with illness, while their relatives lament,—their mother has brought forth children in vain. Those who, while fearlessly fighting in battle to guard cattle and dvijas, perish crushed with arrows, they indeed are really men in the world. He who turns not his back on suppliants, friends, and enemies, in him his father has a real son, and in him his mother has given birth to a hero. A woman’s pain of conception reaches, I think, its success at the time when her son either vanquishes his foes or is slain in battle.’