Shloka 22
ययातेर्वानप्रस्थतपःस्वर्गारोहणम् | Yayāti’s Vānaprastha Austerities and Ascent to Heaven
कथं नु मे मनस्विन्या: पाणिमन्य: पुमान् स्पृशेत् गृहीतमृषिपुत्रेण स्वयं वाप्यूषिणा त्वया,मैं मनको वशमें रखनेवाली स्त्री हूँ। आप-जैसे राजर्षिकुमार अथवा राजर्षिद्वारा पकड़े गये मेरे हाथका स्पर्श अब दूसरा पुरुष कैसे कर सकता है
kathaṁ nu me manasvinyāḥ pāṇim anyaḥ pumān spṛśet | gṛhītam ṛṣiputreṇa svayaṁ vāpy ūṣiṇā tvayā ||
How could any other man touch my hand, when I am a self-controlled woman and my hand has already been taken—seized in marriage—by you, the son of a ṛṣi, by your own act? In this appeal, the speaker invokes the ethical force of a pledged union: once a woman’s hand has been ritually and personally accepted by a worthy man, another’s claim becomes a violation of propriety and dharma.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse underscores the dharmic weight of a pledged marital bond: once the ‘hand’ has been accepted (pāṇigrahaṇa), another man’s approach is ethically improper, and the woman’s self-restraint and honor are invoked as moral authority.
A woman argues that her hand has already been taken by a particular man—described as an ṛṣi’s son—so it would be wrong for any other man to touch or claim her, framing the situation as a matter of rightful commitment and social-religious propriety.