Shloka 20
Dāyavibhāga (Inheritance Apportionment) and Household Precedence — Dialogue of Yudhiṣṭhira and Bhīṣma
पाणिग्रहीता चान्य: स्यात् कस्य भार्या पितामह | तत्त्वं जिज्ञासमानानां चक्षुर्भवतु नो भवान्
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca |
pāṇigrahītā cānyaḥ syāt kasya bhāryā pitāmaha |
tattvaṃ jijñāsamānānāṃ cakṣur bhavatu no bhavān ||
Yudhiṣṭhira dit : «Grand-père, si l’un a assuré le mariage en versant le prix de la fiancée, un autre en promettant le paiement, un troisième veut enlever la jeune fille par la force, un quatrième cherche à obtenir l’assentiment de ses proches en leur offrant des richesses particulières, et un cinquième lui a déjà pris la main dans le rite nuptial, de qui doit-elle être tenue pour l’épouse selon le dharma ? Nous voulons connaître la vérité ; sois nos yeux.»
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a dharma-inquiry: when multiple competing claims arise—payment, promise, coercion, bribing relatives, and the completed hand-taking rite—one must determine legitimacy not by power or wealth but by the true legal-ethical principle (tattva) as explained by an authoritative elder.
In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction section, Yudhiṣṭhira asks Bhīṣma to adjudicate a complex marriage dispute involving several suitors with different kinds of claims, requesting clear guidance on whose wife the girl is considered according to dharma.