Shloka 9
Cyavana’s Water-Vow and the Ethics of Cohabitation (स्नेह-सम्वास-धर्मः)
शूद्रां शयनमारोप्य ब्राह्मणो यात्यधोगतिम् । प्रायश्षित्तीयते चापि विधिदृष्टेन कर्मणा
śūdrāṁ śayanam āropya brāhmaṇo yāty adhogatim | prāyaścittīyate cāpi vidhidṛṣṭena karmaṇā ||
Bhīṣma dit : «Si un brāhmaṇa place une femme Śūdra sur son lit (c’est-à-dire s’il s’adonne à une union charnelle interdite), il tombe en un état inférieur. Pourtant, il peut aussi être purifié par l’expiation, en accomplissant le rite prescrit selon la règle.»
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse states that violating prescribed sexual boundaries (a brāhmaṇa taking a śūdra woman to bed) is a serious dharmic transgression leading to moral/spiritual decline, but it also affirms the dharma-śāstric principle that such faults can be addressed through properly prescribed prāyaścitta (expiatory rites).
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma, including social and ritual norms. Here he gives a rule-and-remedy formulation: he names a prohibited act and then notes that purification is possible through the expiation laid down by scriptural injunction.