Shloka 24
Dāyavibhāga (Inheritance Apportionment) and Household Precedence — Dialogue of Yudhiṣṭhira and Bhīṣma
नैकान्तो दोष एकस्मिंस्तदा केनोपपद्यते | धर्मतो यां प्रयच्छन्ति यां च क्रीणन्ति भारत,भारत! कन्याके भाई-बन्धु जिस कन्याको धर्मपूर्वक पाणिग्रहणकी विधिसे दान कर देते हैं अथवा जिसे मूल्य लेकर दे डालते हैं, उस कन्याको थधर्मपूर्वक विवाह करनेवाला अथवा मूल्य देकर खरीदनेवाला यदि अपने घर ले जाय तो इसमें किसी प्रकारका दोष नहीं होता। भला उस दशामें दोषकी प्राप्ति कैसे हो सकती है?
naikānto doṣa ekasmiṁs tadā kenopapadyate | dharmato yāṁ prayacchanti yāṁ ca krīṇanti bhārata ||
Bhishma said: “A fault does not arise absolutely on one side alone—how, then, could blame be established in such a case? O Bharata, when a maiden is given in marriage according to dharma by the rite of taking the hand (pāṇigrahaṇa), or even when she is handed over for a price, if the man who marries her in due form—or the one who has paid the price—takes her to his home, no moral fault is incurred. In that situation, how could culpability be said to arise?”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma argues that moral blame cannot be assigned absolutely to one party when a marriage occurs through socially recognized means—whether by lawful gifting of the bride or by a transaction accepted in that context; thus, taking the bride home in such a case is not, by itself, a doṣa.
In Anushasana Parva, Bhishma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and social conduct. Here he addresses a question about the legitimacy and fault (doṣa) in certain forms of marriage acquisition, asserting that in the described circumstances culpability does not arise.