Shloka 256
ययातिदौहित्रपुण्यसमुच्चयः | Yayāti and the Grandsons’ Consolidation of Merit
तस्मादिच्छन्ति दौहित्रान् यथा त्वं वसुधाधिप । 'पृथ्वीनाथ! मैंने भी महान् धर्मका संचय किया है। उसका आधा भाग आप ग्रहण करें। राजन! सब मनुष्य अपनी संतानोंके किये हुए सत्कर्मोके फलके भागी होते हैं। इसीलिये वे दौहित्रोंकी इच्छा करते हैं
tasmād icchanti dauhitrān yathā tvaṁ vasudhādhipa | pṛthvīnatha! mayāpi mahān dharmasañcayaḥ kṛtaḥ | tasya ardhāṁśaṁ bhavān gṛhṇātu | rājan! sarve manuṣyāḥ svasantānaiḥ kṛtasatkarmaphalasya bhāginaḥ bhavanti | tasmād eva te dauhitrān icchanti, yathā tvayā icchitāḥ ||
Therefore people long for grandsons through their daughters, just as you did, O lord of the earth. “O king of the world! I too have amassed a great store of merit; you may accept half of it. O king, all human beings become sharers in the fruits of the good deeds performed by their descendants. For this reason they desire daughter’s sons—just as you once desired them.”
नारद उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches that merit (dharma/puṇya) is understood as transmissible in its fruits across generations: people become partakers in the results of their descendants’ good deeds. Hence the cultural emphasis on desiring a dauhitra (daughter’s son), through whom one is believed to share in future merit.
Nārada addresses a king (called ‘lord of the earth’) and explains why people desire grandsons through daughters. He frames it ethically: since one shares in the fruits of descendants’ virtuous actions, the wish for a dauhitra is natural—just as the king himself had once wished.