Shloka 22
आचारप्रशंसा
Praise of Ācāra as the Basis of Longevity, Fame, and Prosperity
यावन्तो रोमकूपाः स्युः स्त्रीणां गात्रेषु निर्मिता: । तावद् वर्षसहस्राणि नरकं पर्युपासते,स्त्रियोंके शरीरमें जितने रोमकूप होते हैं, उतने ही हजार वर्षोंतक व्यभिचारी पुरुषोंको नरकमें रहना पड़ता है
yāvanto romakūpāḥ syuḥ strīṇāṃ gātreṣu nirmitāḥ | tāvad varṣasahasrāṇi narakaṃ paryupāsate ||
Dijo Bhīṣma: «Tantos como son los folículos del vello formados en los miembros de las mujeres, por tantos miles de años permanecen en el infierno los hombres que quebrantan la fidelidad sexual».
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Sexual infidelity (vyabhicāra) is treated as a major breach of dharma, and the verse emphasizes its severe karmic consequence through a striking numerical metaphor: the punishment is unimaginably long, measured in thousands of years corresponding to the countless hair-follicles on a woman’s body.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and right conduct. Here he delivers a moral warning about the consequences of violating sexual fidelity, framing it within the broader didactic discourse on ethical restraint and social responsibility.