Shloka 383

Cyavana’s Water-Vow and the Ethics of Cohabitation (स्नेह-सम्वास-धर्मः)

Devanagari script

भूयो भूयो<5पि संहार्य: पितृवित्ताद्‌ युधिष्ठिर । क्षत्रियकन्या संसारमें अपनी जातिद्दारा ब्राह्मण-कन्याके बराबर नहीं हो सकती। नृपश्रेष्ठ! इसी प्रकार ब्राह्मणीका पुत्र क्षत्रियाके पुत्रसे प्रथम एवं ज्येष्ठ होगा। युधिष्ठिर! इसलिये पिताके धनमेंसे ब्राह्मणीके पुत्रको अधिक-अधिक भाग देना चाहिये

Transliteration

bhūyo bhūyo 'pi saṃhāryaḥ pitṛvittād yudhiṣṭhira | kṣatriyakanyā saṃsāre svajātyā brāhmaṇa-kanyāsamā na bhavati | nṛpaśreṣṭha! tathā brāhmaṇyāḥ putraḥ kṣatriyaputrāt prathama eva jyeṣṭhaś ca bhavati | yudhiṣṭhira! tasmāt pitṛdhane brāhmaṇyāḥ putrāya bhūyobhūyaḥ bhāgo dātavyaḥ ||

Translation

Bhīṣma dit : «Encore et encore, ô Yudhiṣṭhira, il faut garder ceci à l’esprit lorsqu’on répartit la richesse du père. Dans l’ordre social, une jeune fille kṣatriya, du fait de sa naissance, n’est pas tenue pour l’égale d’une jeune fille brāhmaṇa. De même, ô le meilleur des rois, le fils né d’une épouse brāhmaṇī est considéré comme prioritaire et aîné par rapport au fils né d’une épouse kṣatriyā. C’est pourquoi, ô Yudhiṣṭhira, des biens du père, une part plus grande doit être attribuée au fils de l’épouse brāhmaṇī.»

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'bhūyo bhūyaḥ', 'definition': 'again and again

• emphatically'}, {'term': 'api', 'definition': 'also

• even'}, {'term': 'saṃhāryaḥ', 'definition': 'to be gathered/kept in mind

• to be taken into account (in deliberation)'}, {'term': 'pitṛ-vitta / pitṛ-dhana', 'definition': 'father’s wealth

• paternal property'}, {'term': 'yudhiṣṭhira', 'definition': 'name of the listener addressed by Bhīṣma'}, {'term': 'kṣatriya-kanyā', 'definition': 'a Kṣatriya maiden/daughter'}, {'term': 'brāhmaṇa-kanyā', 'definition': 'a Brāhmaṇa maiden/daughter'}, {'term': 'nṛpaśreṣṭha', 'definition': 'best among kings (honorific address)'}, {'term': 'brāhmaṇī', 'definition': 'a Brāhmaṇa woman

• here, a Brāhmaṇa wife'}, {'term': 'putraḥ', 'definition': 'son'}, {'term': 'prathama', 'definition': 'first

• prior'}, {'term': 'jyeṣṭha', 'definition': 'elder

• having precedence'}, {'term': 'bhāga', 'definition': 'share

• portion (of inheritance)'}, {'term': 'dātavyaḥ', 'definition': 'should be given

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Bhīṣma
• Yudhiṣṭhira
• Kṣatriya
• Brāhmaṇa

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

Bhīṣma teaches a rule of precedence in inheritance: when allocating a father’s property, the son of a Brāhmaṇa wife is to be treated as senior and given a larger share than the son of a Kṣatriya wife, reflecting the text’s varṇa-based hierarchy.

What is happening in the narrative?

In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction section, Bhīṣma continues advising King Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma—here, specifically on social precedence and the distribution of paternal wealth among sons born of wives of different varṇas.