Shloka 36
पाण्डवानां वनप्रस्थानवर्णनम् / The Pāṇḍavas’ Departure for the Forest
Vidura’s Report and Portents
राजेन्द्र! वैश्यको एक वर माँगनेका अधिकार बताया गया है, क्षत्रियकी स्त्री दो वर माँग सकती है, क्षत्रियको तीन वर तथा ब्राह्मणको सौ वर लेनेका अधिकार है ।।
rājendra! vaiśyako eka vara māṅgane kā adhikāra batāyā gayā hai, kṣatriyakī strī do vara māṅg saktī hai, kṣatriyako tīna vara tathā brāhmaṇako śata vara lenekā adhikāra hai. pāpīyāṃsa ime bhūtvā saṃtīrṇāḥ patayo mama. vetsyanti caiva bhadrāṇi rājan puṇyena karmaṇā.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: “O best of kings, it is declared that a Vaiśya is entitled to ask for one boon; a Kṣatriya’s wife may ask for two; a Kṣatriya for three; and a Brāhmaṇa for a hundred. O king, those husbands of mine who had become fallen and were trapped in grievous calamity after being reduced to servitude have now crossed beyond it. Thereafter, by the performance of meritorious acts, they will attain their own welfare.”
धृतराष्ट उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames ‘boon-taking’ as regulated by social-ethical norms (varṇa/role-based entitlement) and then pivots to a moral claim: those who have escaped a degrading crisis should pursue auspicious welfare through meritorious action (puṇya-karma), implying that recovery is completed by ethical conduct, not merely by release from danger.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra addresses a king and cites a rule about how many boons different persons may request. He then reflects that his own ‘lords’ (contextually his sons/kinsmen) who had fallen into servitude and severe distress have now crossed that peril, and he expresses confidence that they will secure well-being through subsequent virtuous deeds.