Shloka 16
गोमूल्यनिर्णयः — The Determination of Value through the Cow
Nahuṣa–Cyavana Episode
ते चापि सदृशं वर्ण जनयन्ति स्वयोनिषु | परस्परस्य दारेषु जनयन्ति विगर्हितान्
te cāpi sadṛśaṃ varṇaṃ janayanti svayoniṣu | parasparasya dāreṣu janayanti vigarhitān |
قال بهيشما: «إن المولودين من اختلاط الطبقات إذا اتحدوا في جماعتهم أنجبوا نسلًا مماثلًا (مختلطًا) لمرتبتهم. أمّا إذا كانت لهم علاقاتٌ بنساءٍ من جماعاتٍ أخرى—حتى بزوجات بعضهم بعضًا—فإن الأبناء الذين يولدون يُعَدّون أشدَّ لومًا من آبائهم أنفسهم.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma links social and moral disorder to sexual misconduct: unions within one’s own kind reproduce similar status, but violating marital boundaries and crossing into others’ wives is condemned and is said to yield offspring viewed as even more reprehensible.
In Anushasana Parva, Bhishma is instructing Yudhishthira on dharma. Here he discusses the consequences of varṇa-saṅkara (mixed social order) and especially censures illicit relations with others’ wives, framing it as a serious ethical breach with harmful social outcomes.