Shloka 26
कर्णस्य मन्त्रः — Duryodhana-प्रति नीति-विचारः
Karna’s Counsel on Strategy toward the Pāṇḍavas
सर्वेषां धर्मतः कृष्णा महिषी नो भविष्यति । आनुपूर्व्येण सर्वेषां गृह्नातु ज्वलने करान्,अतः कृष्णा धर्मके अनुसार हम सभीकी महारानी होगी। इसलिये वह प्रज्वलित अग्निके सामने क्रमश: हम सबका पाणिग्रहण करे
Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca | sarveṣāṃ dharmataḥ kṛṣṇā mahiṣī no bhaviṣyati | ānupūrvyena sarveṣāṃ gṛhṇātu jvalane karān |
Yudhiṣṭhira said: “By the rule of dharma, Kṛṣṇā (Draupadī) shall be the queen-consort of us all. Therefore, before the blazing sacred fire, let her take the hands of each of us in due order.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames an extraordinary marital arrangement within the language of dharma: legitimacy is sought not through desire or power but through adherence to a perceived righteous order, expressed via proper ritual (hand-taking before the sacred fire) and proper sequence (ānupūrvyena).
After Draupadī’s svayaṃvara and the ensuing complications, Yudhiṣṭhira declares that, in accordance with dharma, Draupadī will be the consort of all the brothers, and he directs that the marriage rite be performed sequentially before the sacred fire.