Shloka 18
यदि वा दोषजातं त्वं परदारेषु पश्यसि । आत्मानं स्पर्शयाम्यद्य पार्णिं गृह्ीष्व मे द्विज,ब्रह्म! यदि आप परायी स्त्रियोंके साथ समागममें दोष देखते हैं तो मैं स्वयं आपको अपना दान करती हूँ। आप मेरा पाणिग्रहण कीजिये
yadi vā doṣajātaṃ tvaṃ paradāreṣu paśyasi | ātmānaṃ sparśayāmy adya pāṇiṃ gṛhṇīṣva me dvija-brahman ||
Aṣṭāvakra said: “If you perceive any fault in union with another man’s wife, then today I offer myself to you—take my hand in marriage, O twice-born brāhmaṇa.”
अद्टावक्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds sexual ethics within dharma: approaching another man’s wife is treated as a moral fault (doṣa). The speaker frames a remedy consistent with social-religious norms—legitimate union through pāṇigrahaṇa (marriage)—thereby contrasting illicit desire with sanctioned commitment.
Aṣṭāvakra addresses a brāhmaṇa and, anticipating or responding to concern about the wrongdoing of relations with another’s wife, offers herself and urges him to accept her hand in marriage. The speech functions as a moral pivot: if ‘paradāra’ is blameworthy, then the relationship should be regularized through lawful marriage.