Shloka 18
गोमूल्यनिर्णयः — The Determination of Value through the Cow
Nahuṣa–Cyavana Episode
प्रतिलोम॑ तु वर्धन्ते बाह्माद् बाह्ुतरात् पुनः । हीनाद्धीना: प्रसूयन्ते वर्णा: पजचदशैव तु
pratilomaṁ tu vardhante brāhmād bāhutārāt punaḥ | hīnād hīnāḥ prasūyante varṇāḥ pañcadaśaiva tu ||
Bhīṣma said: In unions deemed ‘pratiloma’ (against the prescribed social order), the progeny multiply in ever more mixed forms. From those considered ‘lower’, still ‘lower’ groups are born; thus, in all, fifteen such mixed social categories are spoken of.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a dharma-śāstra style warning: when socially ‘pratiloma’ unions occur, the resulting lineages are described as proliferating into increasingly mixed and ‘lower’ categories, producing confusion about social identity and corresponding duties.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma is instructing Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma. Here he is discussing classifications of progeny from cross-unions and emphasizing the traditional normative framework that treats certain unions as disruptive to established social and ritual order.