Shloka 23
पिता माता गुरवश्वैव ये<न्ये देहस्यास्य प्रभवन्ति प्रदाने । नाहं धर्म लोपयिष्यामि लोके स्त्रीणां वृत्तं पूज्यते देहरक्षा,“मेरे पिता-माता तथा अन्य गुरुजन ही मेरे इस शरीरको देनेका अधिकार रखते हैं। मैं अपने धर्मका लोप नहीं करूँगी। स्त्रियोंक सदाचारमें अपने शरीरकी पवित्रताको बनाये रखना ही प्रधान है और संसारमें उसीकी प्रशंसा की जाती है
vaiśampāyana uvāca |
pitā mātā guravaś caiva ye 'nye dehasyāsya prabhavanti pradāne |
nāhaṃ dharmaṃ lopayiṣyāmi loke strīṇāṃ vṛttaṃ pūjyate deharakṣā ||
Vaiśampāyana said: “My father, my mother, and the elders—indeed all those others who have authority in the giving of this body—alone have the right over it. I will not abandon dharma in this world. For among women, virtuous conduct is honored; the safeguarding of one’s body (chastity and bodily integrity) is praised by society.”
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse upholds dharma as fidelity to moral restraint and social-ethical duty: one’s body is not to be treated as a personal commodity but guarded with integrity, and women’s virtue is framed as being especially honored through deharakṣā (protection of bodily purity/chastity).
In Vaiśampāyana’s narration, a woman (speaking in the first person) asserts that decisions concerning her body properly belong to her parents and elders, and she refuses to violate dharma; she emphasizes that society praises women’s virtuous conduct, particularly the safeguarding of bodily integrity.