Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 34
Cyavana’s Water-Vow and the Ethics of Cohabitation (स्नेह-सम्वास-धर्मः)
अन्न पानं च माल्यं च वासांस्याभरणानि च । ब्राह्मण्यैतानि देयानि भर्तु: सा हि गरीयसी
anna-pānaṃ ca mālyaṃ ca vāsāṃsy ābharaṇāni ca | brāhmaṇyaitāni deyāni bhartuḥ sā hi garīyasī ||
भीष्म बोले—अन्न-पान, माला, वस्त्र और आभूषण—ये सब वस्तुएँ पति को ब्राह्मणी ही अर्पित करे; क्योंकि इस कर्तव्य में वही सर्वस्त्रियों में अधिक माननीय है।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a norm of household dharma: the Brahmin wife is enjoined to offer and manage key items of hospitality and honor—food, drink, garlands, clothing, and ornaments—for her husband, emphasizing her dignified precedence in this domestic-ethical role.
Bhīṣma is instructing on conduct and duties (dharma) in the Anuśāsana Parva. Here he specifies what a brāhmaṇī should offer to her husband, presenting it as an authoritative guideline within the broader discourse on righteous living.