Shloka 20
उपवासविधि-प्रश्नः
Inquiry into the Discipline of Fasting
भ्रातुर्भार्या च तद्धत् स्थाद् यस्या बाल्ये स्तनं पिबेत्
bhrātur bhāryā ca taddhat syād yasyā bālye stanaṃ pibet
بھائی کی بیوی کو بھی اسی طرح ماں کے برابر سمجھنا چاہیے—خصوصاً اگر بچپن میں اس کے پستان کا دودھ پیا ہو۔
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse teaches a rule of dharma: a brother’s wife is to be treated with the reverence due to a mother, with an added emphasis when she has acted as a wet-nurse in one’s childhood—thereby strengthening the ethical boundary against impropriety and affirming kinship-respect.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma is instructing Yudhiṣṭhira on norms of righteous conduct. Here he states a specific familial ethic: the brother’s wife is to be regarded as mother-like, particularly if she nursed the person as a child.