Shloka 1
अत एकोनविशो< ध्याय: अष्टावक्र मुनिका वदान्य ऋषिके कहनेसे उत्तर दिशाकी ओर प्रस्थान, मार्गमें कुबेरके द्वारा उनका स्वागत तथा स्त्रीरूपधारिणी उत्तरदिशाके साथ उनका संवाद युधिछिर उवाच यदिदं सहधर्मेति प्रोच्यते भरतर्षभ । पाणिग्रहणकाले तु स्त्रीणामेतत् कथं स्मृतम्,युधिष्ठिरने पूछा--भरतश्रेष्ठ! जो यह स्त्रियोंक लिये विवाहकालमें सहधर्मकी बात कही जाती है, वह किस प्रकार बतायी गयी है?
Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca— yad idaṃ sahadharmeti procyate bharatarṣabha, pāṇigrahaṇakāle tu strīṇām etat kathaṃ smṛtam?
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “O bull among the Bharatas, when, at the time of marriage, it is said of a woman, ‘she is a partner in dharma (sahadharma),’ how is this principle to be understood, and on what basis is it taught?”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a dharma-inquiry: the wife is proclaimed ‘sahadharmā’ at marriage, and Yudhiṣṭhira asks for the authoritative rationale—how tradition (smṛti) understands a woman’s participation in dharma within the marital bond.
In the Anuśāsana discussions on conduct and duties, Yudhiṣṭhira addresses an elder authority (implied by the honorific ‘bharatarṣabha’) and seeks clarification about the meaning and scriptural grounding of calling a bride a co-partner in dharma during the marriage rite of pāṇigrahaṇa.