Shloka 55
Dāyavibhāga (Inheritance Apportionment) and Household Precedence — Dialogue of Yudhiṣṭhira and Bhīṣma
पाणिग्रहणमन्त्राणां निष्ठा स्यात् सप्तमे पदे । पाणिग्रहस्य भार्या स्याद् यस्य चाद्ि: प्रदीयते । इति देयं वदन्त्यत्र त एन॑ निश्चयं विदु:
pāṇigrahaṇamantrāṇāṁ niṣṭhā syāt saptame pade | pāṇigrahasya bhāryā syād yasya cādiḥ pradīyate | iti deyaṁ vadanty atra te enaṁ niścayaṁ viduḥ |
Bhīṣma dijo: «La eficacia vinculante de los mantras nupciales se consuma en el séptimo paso de la saptapadī; sólo entonces queda establecido sin duda el estado conyugal. La mujer es esposa de aquel hombre a quien se la entrega formalmente—tras el voto ritual y la ofrenda de agua—y sólo él es su pāṇigrahītā, el que toma su mano en matrimonio. Así describen los sabios el rito del kanyādāna, habiendo llegado a esta determinación definitiva.»
भीष्य उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma states a dharma-rule about marriage: the marriage mantras are considered fully effective at the seventh step of the saptapadī, and the woman is regarded as the wife of the man to whom she is ritually given with the formal resolve and water-offering—this establishes the definitive marital bond.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhishma is instructing Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and proper conduct. Here he clarifies the authoritative determination of when marriage becomes binding and who is recognized as the lawful husband in the context of pāṇigraha and kanyā-dāna.