Shloka 14
Bhīṣma’s Counsel on Reconciliation and Partition (भीष्मोपदेशः—संधि-राज्यविभागविचारः)
श्रूयते हि पुराणेडपि जटिला नाम गौतमी । ऋषीनध्यासितवती सप्त धर्मभूतां वरा
Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca — śrūyate hi purāṇeṣv api jaṭilā nāma gautamī; ṛṣīn adhyāsitavatī sapta dharmabhūtān varā.
Yudhiṣṭhira dijo: «En verdad, se oye incluso en los Purāṇa que hubo una doncella del linaje de Gautama llamada Jaṭilā—la más excelsa entre los justos—que aceptó a siete ṛṣis como esposos. Por ello, la inclinación de mi corazón hacia este matrimonio no puede, de ningún modo, ser contraria al dharma».
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Yudhiṣṭhira argues that dharma is clarified by authoritative precedent: when an action appears ethically complex, one may appeal to well-known traditional accounts (here, a Purāṇic example) to show that the act can still be within dharma.
Yudhiṣṭhira defends the moral legitimacy of a proposed marriage by citing a traditional story: Jaṭilā of the Gautama lineage is said to have married seven sages, implying that such an arrangement has precedent among the righteous.