Shloka 253
गोमूल्यनिर्णयः — The Determination of Value through the Cow
Nahuṣa–Cyavana Episode
कारावरो निषाद्यां तु चर्मकार: प्रसूयते । इस प्रकार ये तीन नीच जातिके मनुष्य आयोगवीकी संतानें हैं। निघाद जातिकी स्त्रीका यदि वैदेहक जातिके पुरुषसे संसर्ग हो तो क्षुद्र
kārāvaro niṣādyāṃ tu carmakāraḥ prasūyate |
Dijo Bhīṣma: De una Niṣādī (mujer de la comunidad Niṣāda) nace un Kārāvara; y también se produce un Carmakāra (trabajador del cuero). En este pasaje, Bhīṣma describe las clasificaciones tradicionales de varṇa–jāti por nacimiento y ocupación, afirmando que ciertas uniones mixtas se dice que dan lugar a comunidades asociadas con vivir fuera de la aldea y sostenerse mediante la caza o mediante el trabajo con las pieles de animales muertos; de ahí la designación “Carmakāra”, trabajador del cuero.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse is part of Bhishma’s instructional catalog of traditional social classifications, linking birth (especially mixed unions) with named communities and customary occupations. It reflects a prescriptive social taxonomy rather than a universal ethical ideal, and it is presented as an explanatory scheme for social roles and livelihoods.
In Anushasana Parva, Bhishma is instructing Yudhishthira on dharma and social regulations. Here he continues a section describing the origins and occupations of various groups said to arise from particular unions, mentioning Kārāvara and Carmakāra in connection with a Niṣādī.