Shloka 37

Dāyavibhāga (Inheritance Apportionment) and Household Precedence — Dialogue of Yudhiṣṭhira and Bhīṣma

Devanagari script

समीक्ष्य च बहून्‌ दोषान्‌ संवासाद्‌ विद्धि पाणयो: । यथा निष्ठाकरं शुल्क न जात्वासीत्‌ तथा शूणु

Transliteration

samīkṣya ca bahūn doṣān saṃvāsād viddhi pāṇayoḥ | yathā niṣṭhākaraṃ śulkaṃ na jātva āsīt tathā śṛṇu ||

Translation

ভীষ্ম বললেন—বিবাহকে কেবল সহবাস ও মূল্যদানের দ্বারা স্থির বলে মানলে বহু দোষ জন্মায়; তা ভালো করে বিচার করো। শুধু ‘শুল্ক’ দিলেই বিবাহের চূড়ান্ত নিশ্চয়তা হয় না। প্রাচীন কালে এ প্রথা কখনও স্থির নিয়ম ছিল না—শোনো, আমি ব্যাখ্যা করছি।

Word by Word

• {'samīkṣya': 'having examined, after considering carefully', 'bahūn': 'many', 'doṣān': 'faults, moral defects, harmful consequences', 'saṃvāsāt': 'from cohabitation

• from living together (as the defining basis)', 'viddhi': 'know, understand', 'pāṇayoḥ': 'of the two hands

• idiomatically connected with pāṇigraha (the taking of the bride’s hand in marriage)', 'yathā': 'as, in such a way that', 'niṣṭhākaraṃ': 'bringing finality/settlement

• making a matter firmly concluded', 'śulkam': 'price, fee, bride-price (payment connected with marriage)', 'na': 'not', 'jātva': 'ever, at any time', 'āsīt': 'was', 'tathā': 'thus, in that manner', 'śṛṇu': 'listen'}

Speaker

भीष्य उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhīṣma warns that treating marriage as a transaction—where payment is assumed to finalize the union—creates serious moral and social defects. A legitimate marriage is grounded in dharma and proper rites/consent, not merely in money or cohabitation.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma is instructing on dharma. Here he addresses the issue of ‘buying and selling’ a maiden (kanyā-kraya-vikraya), urging careful reflection on its faults and stating that a paid ‘fee’ has never been a valid basis for conclusively establishing marriage.