Shloka 22

Devanagari script

युधिछिर उवाच कथमस्य प्रयोक्तव्य: संस्कार: कस्य वा कथम्‌ । देया कन्या कथं चेति तन्मे ब्रूहि पितामह,युधिष्ठिरने पूछा--पितामह! ऐसे बालकका संस्कार कैसे और किस जातिके अनुसार करना चाहिये? तथा वास्तवमें वह किस वर्णका है, यह कैसे जाना जाय? एवं किस तरह और किस जातिकी कन्याके साथ उसका विवाह करना चाहिये? यह मुझे बताइये

Transliteration

Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca: katham asya prayoktavyaḥ saṃskāraḥ kasya vā katham | deyā kanyā kathaṃ ceti tan me brūhi pitāmaha ||

Translation

Yudhiṣṭhira sprach: „Großvater, sage es mir: Wie sollen für dieses Kind die saṃskāra, die Reinigungs- und Übergangsriten, vollzogen werden, und nach wessen varṇa—welcher sozialen Ordnung—sind sie zu richten? Wie erkennt man, zu welcher varṇa er in Wahrheit gehört? Und auf welche Weise, und aus welcher Gemeinschaft, soll ihm eine Jungfrau zur Ehe gegeben werden? Erkläre mir dies.“

Word by Word

• {'katham': 'how

• in what way', 'asya': 'of this (person/child)', 'prayoktavyaḥ': 'to be applied/undertaken

• should be performed', 'saṃskāraḥ': 'sacramental rite

• purificatory ceremony', 'kasya': 'of whom

• belonging to which (group)', 'vā': 'or', 'deyā': 'to be given

• should be given (feminine, referring to kanyā)', 'kanyā': 'maiden

• daughter (as bride)', 'ceti': 'and thus

• ‘and so’ (quotative/summary particle)', 'tan': 'that', 'me': 'to me', 'brūhi': 'tell

• speak (imperative)', 'pitāmaha': 'grandfather

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Yudhiṣṭhira
• Pitāmaha (Bhīṣma)
• kanyā (maiden/bride)
• saṃskāra (rites of passage)
• varṇa (social order/class)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames a dharma-question about how ritual status (saṃskāra), social identity (varṇa), and marital eligibility should be determined—implying that ethical and lawful conduct requires clarity about the proper basis for rites and marriage, not mere assumption.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Anuśāsana Parva dialogue, Yudhiṣṭhira addresses Bhīṣma as ‘Pitāmaha’ and asks for guidance on a case involving a child of uncertain classification: how to perform his saṃskāras, how to ascertain his true varṇa, and with whom he may rightly be married.