Shloka 52
Cyavana’s Water-Vow and the Ethics of Cohabitation (स्नेह-सम्वास-धर्मः)
वैश्यस्य वर्तमानस्य वैश्यायां भरतर्षभ । शूद्रायां चापि कौन्तेय तयोविनियम: स्मृत:
vaiśyasya vartamānasya vaiśyāyāṃ bharatarṣabha | śūdrāyāṃ cāpi kaunteya tayor viniyamaḥ smṛtaḥ ||
قال بهيشما: «يا أكرمَ البهاراتا، يا ابنَ كونتي: إذا كان الفيشيا، وهو قائمٌ بحال ربّ البيت، قد رُزق أبناءً من امرأةٍ فيشيا وأبناءً كذلك من امرأةٍ شودرية، فإنّ القاعدة في تخصيص أنصبتهم تُذكَر على أنها هي بعينها التنظيمُ المقرَّر لمثل هؤلاء الأبناء المختلطين».
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse states that Smṛti tradition recognizes a specific, established rule (viniyama) for allocating wealth/entitlements when a Vaiśya has sons from both a Vaiśyā and a Śūdrā; Bhīṣma emphasizes that the distribution should follow the remembered legal-ethical regulation rather than personal preference.
In the Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and social-legal norms. Here he addresses a case of mixed parentage within a Vaiśya household and indicates that traditional law provides a defined rule for how the two sets of sons are to be treated in matters like division of property.