Shloka 13
लुब्धक-कपोत-कपोती-आख्यानम्
The Hunter and the Pigeon Couple: Expiation and Refuge-Ethics
“वृक्षेके नीचे भी जिसकी पत्नी साथ हो, उसके लिये वही घर है और बहुत बड़ी अट्टालिका भी यदि स्त्रीसे रहित है तो वह निश्चय ही दुर्गग गहन वनके समान है ।। धर्मार्थकामकालेषु भार्या पुंस: सहायिनी । विदेशगमने चास्य सैव विश्वासकारिका,“पुरुषके धर्म, अर्थ और कामके अवसरोंपर उसकी पत्नी ही उसकी मुख्य सहायिका होती है। परदेश जानेपर भी वही उसके लिये विश्वसनीय मित्रका काम करती है
dharma-artha-kāma-kāleṣu bhāryā puṁsaḥ sahāyinī | videśa-gamane cāsya saiva viśvāsa-kārikā ||
Bhishma said: “Even in a low place beneath a tree, if a man’s wife is with him, that is his home. But even a great mansion, if it is without a woman, is surely like a perilous, deep forest. In matters of dharma, the pursuit of wealth, and the fulfillment of rightful desire, a wife is a man’s foremost helper. And when he goes to foreign lands, she alone remains his sure ground of trust.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that within the householder’s life, the wife is the primary partner in fulfilling dharma, securing artha, and pursuing kāma appropriately; she is also the most dependable foundation of trust, especially when circumstances like travel create vulnerability.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on righteous living, Bhishma continues advising Yudhiṣṭhira on ethics and social duties, here emphasizing the moral and practical importance of the wife as a steadfast companion and trusted support in all key aims of life.