Shloka 19
ययातेर्वानप्रस्थतपःस्वर्गारोहणम् | Yayāti’s Vānaprastha Austerities and Ascent to Heaven
देवयान्युवाच संसृष्टं ब्रह्मणा क्षत्रं क्षत्रेण ब्रह्म संहितम् । ऋषिश्चाप्यृषिपुत्रश्च नाहुषाड़ वहस्व माम्,देवयानीने कहा--नहुषनन्दन! ब्राह्मणसे क्षत्रिय जाति और क्षत्रियसे ब्राह्मण जाति मिली हुई है। आप राजर्षिके पुत्र हैं और स्वयं भी राजर्षि हैं। अतः मुझसे विवाह कीजिये
devayāny uvāca saṃsṛṣṭaṃ brahmaṇā kṣatraṃ kṣatreṇa brahma saṃhitam | ṛṣiś cāpy ṛṣiputraś ca nāhuṣa-āḍa vahasva mām |
Devayānī said: “The Brahmin order has become intermingled with the Kṣatriya, and the Kṣatriya with the Brahmin. You are the son of a royal seer, and you yourself are a royal seer. Therefore, O descendant of Nahūṣa, accept me in marriage.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames marriage eligibility through lineage and merit rather than rigid separation: Devayānī argues that Brahmin and Kṣatriya spheres can be joined, and she appeals to the ethical legitimacy of union by invoking the man’s rājarṣi heritage (royal authority tempered by ascetic virtue).
Devayānī directly proposes marriage, justifying it by stating that Brahmin and Kṣatriya lines are already intermingled and by praising the addressee as both the son of a royal seer and a royal seer himself, addressing him as a descendant of Nahūṣa.