Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 18
Aṣṭāvakra and the Woman: Disclosure, Permission, and Marital Resolution (अनुशासन पर्व, अध्याय २२)
यदि वा दोषजातं त्वं परदारेषु पश्यसि । आत्मानं स्पर्शयाम्यद्य पार्णिं गृह्ीष्व मे द्विज
yadi vā doṣajātaṃ tvaṃ paradāreṣu paśyasi | ātmānaṃ sparśayāmy adya pāṇiṃ gṛhṇīṣva me dvija-brahman ||
अष्टावक्र बोले— यदि परायी स्त्री के साथ समागम में तुम दोष देखते हो, तो आज मैं स्वयं को तुम्हें अर्पित करती हूँ; हे द्विज! मेरा पाणिग्रहण करो।
अद्टावक्र उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds sexual ethics within dharma: approaching another man’s wife is treated as a moral fault (doṣa). The speaker frames a remedy consistent with social-religious norms—legitimate union through pāṇigrahaṇa (marriage)—thereby contrasting illicit desire with sanctioned commitment.
Aṣṭāvakra addresses a brāhmaṇa and, anticipating or responding to concern about the wrongdoing of relations with another’s wife, offers herself and urges him to accept her hand in marriage. The speech functions as a moral pivot: if ‘paradāra’ is blameworthy, then the relationship should be regularized through lawful marriage.