Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 34
Cyavana’s Water-Vow and the Ethics of Cohabitation (स्नेह-सम्वास-धर्मः)
अन्न पानं च माल्यं च वासांस्याभरणानि च । ब्राह्मण्यैतानि देयानि भर्तु: सा हि गरीयसी
anna-pānaṃ ca mālyaṃ ca vāsāṃsy ābharaṇāni ca | brāhmaṇyaitāni deyāni bhartuḥ sā hi garīyasī ||
ਭੀਸ਼ਮ ਨੇ ਆਖਿਆ—ਅੰਨ-ਪਾਨ, ਮਾਲਾ, ਵਸਤ੍ਰ ਅਤੇ ਗਹਿਣੇ—ਇਹ ਸਭ ਪਤੀ ਨੂੰ ਬ੍ਰਾਹਮਣੀ ਨੇ ਹੀ ਭੇਟ ਕਰਨੇ ਹਨ; ਕਿਉਂਕਿ ਇਸ ਫ਼ਰਜ਼ ਵਿੱਚ ਉਹੀ ਸਭ ਇਸਤਰੀਆਂ ਵਿੱਚ ਸਭ ਤੋਂ ਵਧੇਰੇ ਆਦਰਯੋਗ ਹੈ।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a norm of household dharma: the Brahmin wife is enjoined to offer and manage key items of hospitality and honor—food, drink, garlands, clothing, and ornaments—for her husband, emphasizing her dignified precedence in this domestic-ethical role.
Bhīṣma is instructing on conduct and duties (dharma) in the Anuśāsana Parva. Here he specifies what a brāhmaṇī should offer to her husband, presenting it as an authoritative guideline within the broader discourse on righteous living.