Shloka 64
Adhyāya 166: Kṛtaghna-doṣa (कृतघ्नदोषः) — the fault of ingratitude and the limits of expiation
श्रेयांसं शयनं हित्वा या<न््यं पापं॑ निगच्छति । श्वभिस्तामर्दयेद् राजा संस्थाने बहुविस्तरे
śreyāṁsaṁ śayanaṁ hitvā yānyam pāpaṁ nigacchati | śvabhis tām ardayed rājā saṁsthāne bahu-vistare ||
Bhīṣma said: “A woman who abandons the bed of a worthier (rightful) husband and goes to the bed of another sinful man—such a wanton woman should, by the king’s order, be set in a very wide open ground and have her torn by dogs.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Within the rājadharma framework, the verse advocates strict, exemplary punishment to deter perceived sexual transgression and protect social order; it presents the king as the enforcer of discipline through severe penalties.
In Bhishma’s instruction to Yudhishthira on governance and conduct, he describes a punitive measure: if a woman abandons her rightful husband for a sinful man, the king is said to order her public execution by dogs in an open मैदान-like place.