Shloka 55
Chapter 2: Sudarśana Upākhyāna — Atithi-Dharma and the Conquest of Mṛtyu
Gṛhastha-Vrata
स तया छन््द्यमानो<न्यैरीप्सितैर्नूपकन्यया । नान्यमात्मप्रदानात् स तस्या वत्रे वरं द्विज:
sa tayā chandyamāno 'nyair īpsitair nūpakanyayā | nānyam ātmapradānāt sa tasyā vavre varaṃ dvijaḥ ||
Bhīṣma dit : Bien que la jeune fille pressât maintes fois l’hôte de demander quelque autre faveur désirée, le brahmane ne lui demanda rien d’autre que le don de sa propre personne.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds a moral boundary-question: hospitality and boon-giving are dharmic duties, yet a request that demands a person’s very self raises ethical concerns about propriety, restraint, and the limits of what may be asked or offered.
A princess repeatedly invites the visiting brāhmaṇa to request some other boon, but he refuses all alternatives and asks only for her ‘self-gift’—her own person—making the encounter a test of dharma, desire, and social-ethical limits.