Shloka 21
गोमूल्यनिर्णयः — The Determination of Value through the Cow
Nahuṣa–Cyavana Episode
निषादके वीर्य और मागधसैरन्ध्रीके गर्भसे मदगुर जातिका पुरुष उत्पन्न होता है
Niṣādake vīrya aura Māgadha-sairandhrīke garbhase Madgura-jātikā puruṣa utpanna hotā hai, jisakā dūsrā nāma Dāsa bhī hai. Vaha nāvase apanī jīvikā calātā hai. Cāṇḍāla aura Māgadhī-sairandhrīke saṃyogase Śvapāka nāmase prasiddha adhama Cāṇḍāl kī utpatti hotī hai. Vaha murdoṃ kī rakhvālī kā kām kartā hai.
Bhishma said: From the seed of a Niṣāda and the womb of a Māgadha woman of the Sairandhrī class is born a man called Madgura, also known as a Dāsa; he earns his livelihood by working with a boat. From the union of a Cāṇḍāla and a Māgadhī woman of the Sairandhrī class arises one famed as Śvapāka, regarded as a degraded Cāṇḍāla; his occupation is guarding the dead. In this passage, Bhishma is describing traditional social classifications by birth and the occupations associated with them, as part of a broader discourse on social order and prescribed duties.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma is outlining a traditional dharma-text style taxonomy of birth-based social categories and the occupations conventionally assigned to them, presenting social order as a framework of prescribed duties (svadharma) tied to lineage and livelihood.
In Anushasana Parva, Bhishma continues his instructional discourse, listing specific mixed unions and the groups said to arise from them, along with their customary professions—here, boating for Madgura/Dasa and guarding the dead for Śvapāka.