Shloka 22

च्यवन-कुशिक-संवादः

Cyavana–Kuśika Dialogue on Hospitality, Service, and Lineage Questions

Devanagari script

युधिछिर उवाच कथमस्य प्रयोक्तव्य: संस्कार: कस्य वा कथम्‌ । देया कन्या कथं चेति तन्मे ब्रूहि पितामह

Transliteration

Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca: katham asya prayoktavyaḥ saṃskāraḥ kasya vā katham | deyā kanyā kathaṃ ceti tan me brūhi pitāmaha ||

Translation

Dijo Yudhiṣṭhira: «Abuelo, dímelo: ¿cómo deben realizarse para este niño los saṃskāra, los ritos de purificación y paso, y conforme a qué varṇa, a qué orden social, han de hacerse? ¿Cómo puede saberse a qué varṇa pertenece en verdad? Y ¿de qué modo, y de qué comunidad, debe dársele una doncella en matrimonio? Explícamelo».

Word by Word

• {'katham': 'how

• in what way', 'asya': 'of this (person/child)', 'prayoktavyaḥ': 'to be applied/undertaken

• should be performed', 'saṃskāraḥ': 'sacramental rite

• purificatory ceremony', 'kasya': 'of whom

• belonging to which (group)', 'vā': 'or', 'deyā': 'to be given

• should be given (feminine, referring to kanyā)', 'kanyā': 'maiden

• daughter (as bride)', 'ceti': 'and thus

• ‘and so’ (quotative/summary particle)', 'tan': 'that', 'me': 'to me', 'brūhi': 'tell

• speak (imperative)', 'pitāmaha': 'grandfather

Speaker

युधिछिर उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Yudhiṣṭhira
• Pitāmaha (Bhīṣma)
• kanyā (maiden/bride)
• saṃskāra (rites of passage)
• varṇa (social order/class)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse frames a dharma-question about how ritual status (saṃskāra), social identity (varṇa), and marital eligibility should be determined—implying that ethical and lawful conduct requires clarity about the proper basis for rites and marriage, not mere assumption.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Anuśāsana Parva dialogue, Yudhiṣṭhira addresses Bhīṣma as ‘Pitāmaha’ and asks for guidance on a case involving a child of uncertain classification: how to perform his saṃskāras, how to ascertain his true varṇa, and with whom he may rightly be married.