Shloka 18
Dāyavibhāga (Inheritance Apportionment) and Household Precedence — Dialogue of Yudhiṣṭhira and Bhīṣma
असपिण्डा च या मातुरसगोत्रा च या पितु: । इत्येतामनुगच्छेत तं धर्म मनुरब्रवीत्,जो कन्या माताकी सपिण्ड और पिताके गोत्रकी न हो, उसीका अनुगमन करे। इसे मनुजीने धर्मानुकूल बताया है?
asapiṇḍā ca yā mātur asagotrā ca yā pituḥ | ity etām anugacchet taṃ dharmaṃ manur abravīt ||
Bhishma disse: “Deve-se seguir (e escolher em casamento) aquela donzela que não seja parente sapinda pelo lado materno e que não seja do mesmo gotra pelo lado paterno. Manu declarou que esta é a regra do dharma.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse states a dharma-based guideline for marriage: a bride should be outside prohibited kinship—specifically, not a sapinda relative through the mother’s line and not of the same gotra as the father’s line—citing Manu as authority.
In Anushasana Parva, Bhishma is instructing Yudhishthira on dharma and social duties. Here he quotes Manu to support a normative rule about permissible marital relations, emphasizing avoidance of close kin and same-gotra unions.