Shloka 62
Śuka’s Guṇa-Transcendence and Vyāsa’s Consolation (शुकगति-वर्णनम्)
अथ जीवति ते भर्ता प्रोषितो5प्यथवा क्वचित् | अगम्या परभार्येति चतुर्थो धर्मसंकर:
atha jīvati te bhartā proṣito 'py athavā kvacit | agamyā parabhāryeti caturtho dharmasaṅkaraḥ ||
Janaka dit : «Si ton époux est encore en vie—fût-il seulement absent, quelque part loin du foyer—tu es l’épouse d’un autre et, pour moi, tu es donc entièrement inaccessible. En pareille situation, cette conduite devient une quatrième forme de confusion du dharma (dharmasaṅkara), une transgression qui mêle et bouleverse les justes frontières du dharma.»
जनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse asserts a clear ethical boundary: if a woman’s husband is alive—even if absent—she remains ‘another man’s wife’ and is therefore not a legitimate object of approach. Violating this boundary is framed as dharmasaṅkara, a disruptive moral confusion that undermines social and ethical order.
Janaka is speaking to a woman and evaluating the propriety of any relationship with her. He states that if her husband is living (even abroad), she is forbidden to him, and that any contrary behavior constitutes a specific category of fault termed the ‘fourth’ dharmasaṅkara.