Shloka 68
Adhyāya 166: Kṛtaghna-doṣa (कृतघ्नदोषः) — the fault of ingratitude and the limits of expiation
परिवित्ति: परिवेत्ता या चैव परिविद्यते । पाणिग्रहास्त्वधर्मेण सर्वे ते पतिता: स्मृता:
parivittiḥ parivettā yā caiva parividyate | pāṇigrahās tv adharmeṇa sarve te patitāḥ smṛtāḥ ||
Bhīṣma said: When the younger brother takes a wife before the elder brother has married, the elder is called ‘parivitti’, the younger is called ‘parivettā’, and the woman who is thus taken is termed ‘parividyate’. Such marriages, being undertaken contrary to dharma, are all remembered as causing a fall from righteousness for everyone involved.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that violating the customary dharmic order of marriage—where the younger brother marries before the elder—constitutes an adharma-based marriage, and tradition regards all parties involved as incurring moral fault (patita).
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhishma defines technical terms used in dharma-discourse—parivitti (bypassed elder), parivettā (younger who marries first), and parividyate (the woman taken)—and states the ethical judgment attached to such a marriage.