Shloka 70
Adhyāya 166: Kṛtaghna-doṣa (कृतघ्नदोषः) — the fault of ingratitude and the limits of expiation
परिवेत्ता प्रयच्छेत तां स्नुषां परिवित्तये । ज्येछेन त्वभ्यनुज्ञातो यवीयानप्यनन्तरम् । एवं च मोक्षमाप्रोति तौ च सा चैव धर्मत:
parivettā prayacchet tāṁ snuṣāṁ parivittaye | jyeṣṭhena tv abhyanujñāto yavīyān apy anantaram || evaṁ ca mokṣam āpnoti tau ca sā caiva dharmataḥ |
Bhishma said: The younger brother who married before his elder brother (the parivettā) should hand that bride over to the elder brother who was passed over (the parivitta), as a daughter-in-law. Then, once the elder brother grants permission, the younger brother may afterward take her as his wife. By acting thus, all three—the two brothers and the woman—are freed from fault in accordance with dharma.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a dharmic remedy for the social and moral fault incurred when a younger brother marries before the elder: the younger should transfer the bride to the elder (the one bypassed), and only with the elder’s consent may the younger later marry her, so that all involved are cleared of blame according to dharma.
In Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhishma outlines a specific rule concerning family marriage order. He describes the roles of parivettā (the younger who married first) and parivitta (the elder bypassed) and prescribes a corrective sequence—handover, elder’s acceptance/permission, and only then the younger’s subsequent marriage—framed as removing pāpa-doṣa for the three parties.