Shloka 5
भस्मीभवति सा नारी यस्या भर्ता न तुष्यति । अग्निको साक्षी बनाकर स्त्रीका जिसके साथ विवाह हो गया, वही उसका पति है और वही उसके लिये परम देवता है। जिसका पति संतुष्ट नहीं रहता, वह नारी दावानलसे दग्ध हुई पुष्पगुच्छोंसहित लताके समान भस्म हो जाती है ।। इति संचिन्त्य दु:खार्ता भर्तारें दु:खितं तदा
bhasmībhavati sā nārī yasyā bhartā na tuṣyati | agniko sākṣī banākara strīkā jisake sātha vivāha ho gayā, vahī usakā pati hai aur vahī usake liye paramadevatā hai | yasyāḥ patiḥ saṃtuṣṭo na tiṣṭhati, sā nārī dāvānalena dagdhā puṣpagucchaiḥ sahitā latā iva bhasmībhavati || iti saṃcintya duḥkhārtā bhartāraṃ duḥkhitaṃ tadā
Bhishma said: “That woman is reduced to ashes whose husband is not pleased with her. The one with whom a woman is married—taking Fire as witness—is truly her husband, and for her he is the highest deity. If her husband does not remain satisfied, she withers and is consumed like a creeper with its clusters of flowers, burnt by a forest-fire and turned to ash.” Reflecting thus, she, afflicted with sorrow, then saw her husband distressed.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse stresses the sanctity of marriage (sealed with Agni as witness) and frames a wife’s dharma as centered on maintaining harmony and her husband’s contentment, using the metaphor of a flowering creeper burned to ash to depict the ruin caused by marital discord.
Bhishma is instructing on household and marital duty in the Shanti Parva. After stating the principle and its consequences through vivid imagery, the passage transitions to a scene where a sorrow-stricken woman, having reflected on this, finds her husband distressed.