Shloka 30
आस्तीक-उपाख्यान-प्रस्तावः | Introduction to the Āstīka Narrative
दरिद्राय हि मे भार्या को दास्यति विशेषत: । प्रतिग्रहीष्ये भिक्षां तु यदि कश्चित् प्रदास्यति,विशेष बात तो यह है कि मैं दरिद्र हूँ, भला मुझे माँगनेपर भी कौन अपनी कन्या पत्नीरूपमें प्रदान करेगा? इसलिये मेरा विचार है कि यदि कोई भिक्षाके तौरपर अपनी कन्या देगा तो उसे ग्रहण करूँगा
daridrāya hi me bhāryā ko dāsyati viśeṣataḥ | pratigrahīṣye bhikṣāṃ tu yadi kaścit pradāsyati ||
Śaunaka said: 'I am poor; who, especially, would give me a wife (i.e., offer his daughter in marriage)? Therefore I have resolved that if someone gives (a daughter) as alms, I will accept her.' The statement highlights the social and ethical tension between poverty, marriageability, and the impropriety of treating marriage as a form of charity.
शौनक उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse foregrounds how poverty can distort social institutions: marriage, ideally governed by dharma and proper consent/ritual, is here imagined as something obtainable only through charity. It invites reflection on dignity, social obligation, and the ethical limits of ‘gift’ language in intimate relationships.
Śaunaka speaks of his inability, due to poverty, to obtain a bride through ordinary means. He states that if anyone were to offer a daughter as ‘alms,’ he would accept—revealing desperation and setting up a discussion of social custom and propriety.