Shloka 15
Varṇasaṃkara: Causes, Classifications, and Conduct-based Recognition (वर्णसंकरः—हेतु-जाति-आचारनिर्णयः)
दौहित्रकेण धर्मेण नाज पश्यामि कारणम् । विक्रीतासु हि ये पुत्रा भवन्ति पितुरेव ते
dauhitrakeṇa dharmeṇa nāhaṁ paśyāmi kāraṇam | vikrītāsu hi yāḥ kanyāḥ tāsu jāyante ye sutāḥ pitur eva te ||
Bhishma dijo: «No veo motivo razonable para aplicar aquí la norma ‘dauhitraka’. Pues cuando las hijas han sido entregadas por un precio, los hijos nacidos de ellas pertenecen sólo a su padre; por tanto, no hay fundamento justo para hacerlos herederos de la riqueza del abuelo materno según el principio dauhitraka.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma argues that the dauhitraka principle (inheritance through a daughter’s son) should not be invoked when the daughter has been transferred for a price; in such a case, the son is treated as belonging solely to the father’s line, so claiming the maternal grandfather’s property lacks justification.
In Anushasana Parva’s dharma-discourse, Bhishma is clarifying rules of kinship and inheritance. Here he rejects extending a daughter’s-son inheritance claim to a situation involving a ‘sold’ daughter, emphasizing how the mode of marriage/transfer affects lineage and property rights.