Text 27
kaccit kurūṇāṁ paramaḥ suhṛn no
bhāmaḥ sa āste sukham aṅga śauriḥ
yo vai svasṝṇāṁ pitṛvad dadāti
varān vadānyo vara-tarpaṇena
kaccit — whether; kurūṇām — of the Kurus; paramaḥ — greatest; suhṛt — well-wisher; naḥ — our; bhāmaḥ — brother-in-law; saḥ — he; āste — is; sukham — happy; aṅga — O Uddhava; śauriḥ — Vasudeva; yaḥ — one who; vai — certainly; svasṝṇām — of the sisters; pitṛ-vat — like a father; dadāti — gives; varān — everything desirable; vadānyaḥ — munificent; vara — wife; tarpaṇena — by pleasing.
[Please tell me] whether the best friend of the Kurus, our brother-in-law Vasudeva, is doing well. He is very munificent. He is like a father to his sisters, and he is always pleasing to his wives.
Lord Kṛṣṇa’s father, Vasudeva, had sixteen wives, and one of them, named Pauravī or Rohiṇī, the mother of Baladeva, was the sister of Vidura. Vasudeva, therefore, was the husband of Vidura’s sister, and thus they were brothers-in-law. Vasudeva’s sister Kuntī was the wife of Pāṇḍu, Vidura’s elder brother, and in that sense also, Vasudeva was brother-in-law to Vidura. Kuntī was younger than Vasudeva, and it was the duty of the elder brother to treat younger sisters as daughters. Whenever anything was needed by Kuntī, it was munificently delivered by Vasudeva, due to his great love for his younger sister. Vasudeva never dissatisfied his wives, and at the same time he supplied the objects desired by his sister. He had special attention for Kuntī because she became a widow at an early age. While inquiring about Vasudeva’s welfare, Vidura remembered all about him and the family relationship.