Shloka 55
स तया छन््द्यमानो<न्यैरीप्सितैर्नूपकन्यया । नान्यमात्मप्रदानात् स तस्या वत्रे वरं द्विज:,राजकन्याने दूसरी कोई अभीष्ट वस्तु माँगनेके लिये उस अतिथिसे बारंबार अनुरोध किया, किंतु उस ब्राह्मणने उसके शरीर-दानके सिवा और कोई अभिलषित पदार्थ उससे नहीं माँगा
sa tayā chandyamāno 'nyair īpsitair nūpakanyayā | nānyam ātmapradānāt sa tasyā vavre varaṃ dvijaḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: Though the maiden repeatedly urged the guest to ask for some other desired boon, the brāhmaṇa asked for nothing else from her except the gift of her own person.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds a moral boundary-question: hospitality and boon-giving are dharmic duties, yet a request that demands a person’s very self raises ethical concerns about propriety, restraint, and the limits of what may be asked or offered.
A princess repeatedly invites the visiting brāhmaṇa to request some other boon, but he refuses all alternatives and asks only for her ‘self-gift’—her own person—making the encounter a test of dharma, desire, and social-ethical limits.