Shloka 14
Bhīṣma’s Counsel on Reconciliation and Partition (भीष्मोपदेशः—संधि-राज्यविभागविचारः)
श्रूयते हि पुराणेडपि जटिला नाम गौतमी । ऋषीनध्यासितवती सप्त धर्मभूतां वरा
Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca — śrūyate hi purāṇeṣv api jaṭilā nāma gautamī; ṛṣīn adhyāsitavatī sapta dharmabhūtān varā.
युधिष्ठिर उवाच—श्रूयते हि पुराणेष्वपि गौतमगोत्रसमुद्भवा जटिला नाम धर्मात्मनामग्र्या कन्या, या सप्तर्षीन् पतित्वेन जग्राह। तस्मादस्य विवाहस्य विषये मम मनःप्रवृत्तिः कथञ्चिदपि धर्मविरुद्धा न भवति।
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
Yudhiṣṭhira argues that dharma is clarified by authoritative precedent: when an action appears ethically complex, one may appeal to well-known traditional accounts (here, a Purāṇic example) to show that the act can still be within dharma.
Yudhiṣṭhira defends the moral legitimacy of a proposed marriage by citing a traditional story: Jaṭilā of the Gautama lineage is said to have married seven sages, implying that such an arrangement has precedent among the righteous.