Shloka 17
Śulka, Kanyā, and Dauhitra-Riktha: Discourse on Bride-Price and Inheritance Rights (शुल्क-कन्या-दौहित्र-रिक्थविचारः)
स वने निर्जने तात ददर्श मिथुनं नृणाम् । चक्रवत् परिवर्तन्तं गृहीत्वा पाणिना करम्
sa vane nirjane tāta dadarśa mithunaṁ nṛṇām | cakravat parivartantaṁ gṛhītvā pāṇinā karam ||
Bhishma nói: “Này con, trong khu rừng hoang vắng, chàng thấy một đôi—một người nam và một người nữ—nắm tay nhau mà xoay tròn, như bánh xe của người thợ gốm.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse uses a vivid image—two people revolving hand-in-hand like a wheel—to set up a moral reflection on human attachment and cyclical entanglement; it prepares the listener to consider how desire and mutual dependence can keep one ‘turning’ without progress unless guided by dharma.
In a secluded forest, the observer encounters a man and woman together, holding hands and spinning around like a potter’s wheel—an arresting scene that functions as a symbolic episode within Bhishma’s instruction.