Shloka 11
Parāśara’s Birth, Vasiṣṭha as Guardian, and the Bhṛgu–Kṣatriya Violence Etiology (Ādi-parva 169)
तामथ प्रत्युवाचेदमीशानो वदतां वर: । पज्च ते पतयो भद्रे भविष्यन्तीति भारता:,तब वक्ताओंमें श्रेष्ठ भगवान् शिवने उससे कहा--“भद्रे! तुम्हारे पाँच भरतवंशी पति होंगे!
tām atha pratyuvācedam īśāno vadatāṃ varaḥ | pañca te patayo bhadre bhaviṣyantīti bhāratāḥ ||
Then Īśāna (Lord Śiva), the foremost among speakers, replied to her: “O auspicious lady, you shall have five husbands—heroes of the Bhārata lineage.”
व्यास उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames an extraordinary marital outcome as a divinely sanctioned destiny: social irregularity is presented as being integrated into dharma through higher ordinance and lineage-based responsibility.
Śiva (Īśāna) responds to the woman addressed as ‘bhadre’ and foretells that she will have five husbands, all belonging to the Bhārata line—setting up the later well-known fivefold marriage tradition in the epic’s storyline.