Shloka 17
Dāyavibhāga (Inheritance Apportionment) and Household Precedence — Dialogue of Yudhiṣṭhira and Bhīṣma
प्रजा न हीयते तस्या रतिश्ष भरतर्षभ । अतोडन््यथा वर्तमाना भवेद् वाच्या प्रजापते:
prajā na hīyate tasyā ratiś ca bharatarṣabha | ato 'nyathā vartamānā bhaved vācyā prajāpateḥ ||
Bhishma dijo: «Oh toro entre los Bharata, en tal caso, la descendencia de esa mujer no se considera disminuida en rango, ni su unión (con ese hombre) se tiene por censurable. Pero la mujer que obra en contra de este curso debido se vuelve reprensible a los ojos de Prajāpati (Señor de las criaturas), pues se aparta de la norma de conducta ordenada».
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
When conduct follows the sanctioned rule, neither the woman’s union nor the resulting progeny is considered inferior; deviation from the prescribed norm is morally censured, framed as blameworthy before Prajāpati.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction to Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma, he clarifies a rule about sexual/relational conduct and the status of offspring: proper, rule-bound relations do not taint progeny, whereas acting ‘otherwise’ invites condemnation.