Shloka 32
Adhyāya 166: Kṛtaghna-doṣa (कृतघ्नदोषः) — the fault of ingratitude and the limits of expiation
स्त्रीर॒त्नं दुष्कुलाच्चापि विषादप्यमृतं पिबेत् । अदृष्या हि स्त्रियो रत्नमाप इत्येव धर्मतः
strīratnaṃ duṣkulāccāpi viṣād apy amṛtaṃ pibet | adṛśyā hi striyo ratnam āpa ity eva dharmataḥ ||
Bhishma said: “One should accept an excellent woman even if she comes from a low family; and if nectar is found even in the place of poison, one should drink it. For, by the rule of dharma, women, jewels, and water are not to be rejected as ‘tainted’.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Judge by intrinsic worth rather than origin: an excellent woman should be accepted even if her family is low, and true benefit should be taken even if found in an unlikely or impure-seeming place; dharma discourages blanket rejection of women, jewels, and water as inherently ‘defiled’.
In Shanti Parva’s instruction on righteous conduct, Bhishma gives a proverbial rule to Yudhishthira: practical dharma requires discernment—embracing genuine virtue and benefit, not merely social pedigree or superficial notions of purity.