Shloka 18
Aṣṭāvakra and the Woman: Disclosure, Permission, and Marital Resolution (अनुशासन पर्व, अध्याय २२)
यदि वा दोषजातं त्वं परदारेषु पश्यसि । आत्मानं स्पर्शयाम्यद्य पार्णिं गृह्ीष्व मे द्विज
yadi vā doṣajātaṃ tvaṃ paradāreṣu paśyasi | ātmānaṃ sparśayāmy adya pāṇiṃ gṛhṇīṣva me dvija-brahman ||
قال أَشْتَافَكْرَا: «إن كنتَ ترى عيبًا في الوصال بزوجةِ رجلٍ آخر، فإني اليوم أهبُ نفسي لك—فخُذْ يدي زواجًا، أيها البراهمن ذو الميلادين (dvija).»
अद्टावक्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds sexual ethics within dharma: approaching another man’s wife is treated as a moral fault (doṣa). The speaker frames a remedy consistent with social-religious norms—legitimate union through pāṇigrahaṇa (marriage)—thereby contrasting illicit desire with sanctioned commitment.
Aṣṭāvakra addresses a brāhmaṇa and, anticipating or responding to concern about the wrongdoing of relations with another’s wife, offers herself and urges him to accept her hand in marriage. The speech functions as a moral pivot: if ‘paradāra’ is blameworthy, then the relationship should be regularized through lawful marriage.