Shloka 5
Cyavana’s Water-Vow and the Ethics of Cohabitation (स्नेह-सम्वास-धर्मः)
तत्र जातेषु पुत्रेषु सर्वासां कुरुसत्तम | आनुपूर्व्येण कस्तेषां पित्रयं दायादमर्हति,कुरुश्रेष्ठ! इन सबके गर्भसे जो पुत्र उत्पन्न हुए हों, उनमेंसे कौन क्रमश: पैतृक धनको पानेका अधिकारी है?
tatra jāteṣu putreṣu sarvāsāṃ kurusattama | ānupūrvyeṇa kas teṣāṃ pitryaṃ dāyādam arhati, kuruśreṣṭha ||
اے کوروؤں میں برتر! ان سب بیویوں سے جو بیٹے پیدا ہوں، ان میں ترتیب کے ساتھ کون پدری وراثت کا حق دار ٹھہرتا ہے؟
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames inheritance as a dharmic question: rightful succession is not merely about birth, but about recognized order and legitimacy, implying that social and ethical norms govern the transfer of ancestral property.
Yudhiṣṭhira asks an elder/authority addressed as ‘best of the Kurus’ to clarify, among sons born to multiple wives, who should receive the paternal inheritance in the proper order of precedence.