Shloka 20
Dāyavibhāga (Inheritance Apportionment) and Household Precedence — Dialogue of Yudhiṣṭhira and Bhīṣma
पाणिग्रहीता चान्य: स्यात् कस्य भार्या पितामह | तत्त्वं जिज्ञासमानानां चक्षुर्भवतु नो भवान्
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca |
pāṇigrahītā cānyaḥ syāt kasya bhāryā pitāmaha |
tattvaṃ jijñāsamānānāṃ cakṣur bhavatu no bhavān ||
قال يودهيشثيرا: «يا جدّي، إذا ثبّت رجلٌ الزواج بدفع ثمن العروس، وثبّته آخر بوعد الدفع، وثالثٌ يريد خطف الفتاة بالقوة، ورابعٌ يسعى إلى رضا أقاربها بعرض مالٍ خاص، وخامسٌ قد أخذ يدها في طقس الزواج—فبحسب الدارما، زوجةُ مَن تُعَدّ؟ إنّا نلتمس الحقيقة؛ فكن لنا عينًا.»
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a dharma-inquiry: when multiple competing claims arise—payment, promise, coercion, bribing relatives, and the completed hand-taking rite—one must determine legitimacy not by power or wealth but by the true legal-ethical principle (tattva) as explained by an authoritative elder.
In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction section, Yudhiṣṭhira asks Bhīṣma to adjudicate a complex marriage dispute involving several suitors with different kinds of claims, requesting clear guidance on whose wife the girl is considered according to dharma.