Shloka 17
Cyavana’s Water-Vow and the Ethics of Cohabitation (स्नेह-सम्वास-धर्मः)
अब्राह्माणं तु मन्यन्ते शूद्रापुत्रमनैपुणात् । त्रिषु वर्णेषु जातो हि ब्राह्मणाद् ब्राह्मणो भवेत्
abhāhmaṇaṁ tu manyante śūdrāputram anaipuṇāt | triṣu varṇeṣu jāto hi brāhmaṇād brāhmaṇo bhavet ||
Bhīṣma sprach: „Den Sohn, der aus dem Schoß einer Śūdra-Frau geboren wird, halten sie nicht für einen Brahmanen, denn man meint, ihm fehle die Verfeinerung und Befähigung, die dem brahmanischen Wandel eigen ist. Doch der Sohn, den ein Brahmane mit einer Frau aus einer der übrigen drei Varṇa zeugt, gilt als Brahmane.“
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse states a normative rule about social recognition (varṇa-status): a child’s acceptance as ‘brāhmaṇa’ is linked to perceived brāhmaṇa-qualities (naipuṇya) and, in the stated scheme, to paternity by a brāhmaṇa across unions with women of other varṇas, while excluding the son of a Śūdra woman from brāhmaṇa recognition.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma is instructing Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and social norms. Here he addresses rules of lineage and varṇa-classification, explaining how certain births were traditionally categorized and socially acknowledged.