Shloka 20
Dāyavibhāga (Inheritance Apportionment) and Household Precedence — Dialogue of Yudhiṣṭhira and Bhīṣma
पाणिग्रहीता चान्य: स्यात् कस्य भार्या पितामह | तत्त्वं जिज्ञासमानानां चक्षुर्भवतु नो भवान्
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca |
pāṇigrahītā cānyaḥ syāt kasya bhāryā pitāmaha |
tattvaṃ jijñāsamānānāṃ cakṣur bhavatu no bhavān ||
Yudhiṣṭhira disse: “Avô, se um homem assegurou o casamento pagando o preço da noiva, outro o assegurou prometendo o pagamento, um terceiro quer levar a moça à força, um quarto busca o consentimento de seus parentes oferecendo riquezas especiais, e um quinto já lhe tomou a mão no rito nupcial — de quem, segundo o dharma, ela deve ser considerada esposa? Buscamos conhecer a verdade; sê nossos olhos.”
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a dharma-inquiry: when multiple competing claims arise—payment, promise, coercion, bribing relatives, and the completed hand-taking rite—one must determine legitimacy not by power or wealth but by the true legal-ethical principle (tattva) as explained by an authoritative elder.
In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction section, Yudhiṣṭhira asks Bhīṣma to adjudicate a complex marriage dispute involving several suitors with different kinds of claims, requesting clear guidance on whose wife the girl is considered according to dharma.