Shloka 20

Bhīṣma’s Counsel on Reconciliation and Partition (भीष्मोपदेशः—संधि-राज्यविभागविचारः)

Devanagari script

यथायं विहितो धर्मो यतश्चायं सनातन: । यथा च प्राह कौन्तेयस्तथा धर्मो न संशय:

Transliteration

yathāyaṁ vihito dharmo yataścāyaṁ sanātanaḥ | yathā ca prāha kaunteyastathā dharmo na saṁśayaḥ ||

Translation

ഈ ധർമ്മം യഥാവിധി നിശ്ചയിക്കപ്പെട്ട രീതിയിലും, ഇത് സനാതനക്രമത്തോട് യോജിക്കുന്ന കാരണത്താലും, കുന്തീപുത്രൻ എങ്ങനെ വാദിച്ചുവോ അതുപോലെ—നിസ്സംശയം ഇതുതന്നെ ധർമ്മമാണ്.

Word by Word

• [{'term': 'yathā', 'definition': 'as, in the manner in which'}, {'term': 'ayam', 'definition': 'this (matter/act under discussion)'}, {'term': 'vihitaḥ', 'definition': 'enjoined, prescribed, laid down (by rule/authority)'}, {'term': 'dharmaḥ', 'definition': 'righteous law

• moral and social order'}, {'term': 'yataḥ', 'definition': 'because

• from which reason'}, {'term': 'ca', 'definition': 'and'}, {'term': 'sanātanaḥ', 'definition': 'eternal, perennial (as in sanātana-dharma)'}, {'term': 'prāha', 'definition': 'said, declared, asserted'}, {'term': 'kaunteyaḥ', 'definition': 'son of Kuntī

• epithet of Yudhiṣṭhira (also used for Arjuna contextually)'}, {'term': 'tathā', 'definition': 'so, thus, in that very way'}, {'term': 'na saṁśayaḥ', 'definition': 'no doubt

Speaker

व्यास उवाच

Characters & Entities

• Vyāsa
• Kaunteya (Yudhiṣṭhira)

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

That an action is to be accepted as dharma when it is both scripturally/authoritatively enjoined (vihita) and consistent with the eternal moral order (sanātana), and when sound reasoning by a competent authority (here, Kaunteya) supports it—hence it is ‘without doubt’ dharma.

What is happening in the narrative?

Vyāsa delivers a concluding validation: he affirms that the disputed practice—contextually, the propriety of a particular marriage arrangement—fits established injunctions and the eternal dharma, and that Yudhiṣṭhira’s defense of its dharma-compatibility is correct.