Shloka 39
Brahmacarya-Upāya: Jñāna, Śauca, and the Mind’s Role in Desire (शान्ति पर्व, अध्याय २०७)
ततस्त्रेतायुगे काले संस्पर्शाज्जायते प्रजा । न हाभून्मैथुनो धर्मस्तेषामपि जनाधिप
tatas tretāyuge kāle saṁsparśāj jāyate prajā | na hābhūn maithuno dharmas teṣām api janādhipa ||
Bhishma dijo: «Luego, cuando llegó la era de Tretā, la descendencia empezó a producirse con el mero contacto. Oh señor de los hombres, incluso entre la gente de aquel tiempo la unión sexual (maithuna) como norma social aún no se había puesto en boga.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma highlights that dharma and social customs vary by yuga: in earlier ages, procreation was portrayed as occurring through subtler means (mere touch), and sexual union was not yet an established social practice—implying a progressive coarsening of human conduct across ages.
In Bhīṣma’s discourse to the king, he describes conditions in the Tretā-yuga: beings begin to produce offspring through touch alone, and the institution or widespread practice of maithuna (sexual intercourse) is said not to have arisen among people at that time.