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

جس طرح یہ دھرم باقاعدہ طور پر مقرر کیا گیا ہے، اور جس سبب سے یہ سناتن نظام کے مطابق ہے، اور جیسا کہ کُنتی کے بیٹے نے اس کی دلیل قائم کی ہے—اسی طرح بے شک یہی دھرم ہے، اس میں کوئی شبہ نہیں۔

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.