Shloka 14
गोमूल्यनिर्णयः — The Determination of Value through the Cow
Nahuṣa–Cyavana Episode
एते5पि सदृशान् वर्णान् जनयन्ति स्वयोनिषु । मातृजात्या: प्रसूयन्ते हवरा हीनयोनिषु
Bhīṣma uvāca: ete 'pi sadṛśān varṇān janayanti svayoniṣu | mātṛjātyāḥ prasūyante 'varā hīna-yoniṣu ||
Bhīṣma dit : Même ces hommes engendrent une descendance d’un ordre social semblable lorsqu’ils s’unissent au sein de leur propre communauté. Mais lorsqu’ils fréquentent des femmes de naissance inférieure, il naît une progéniture tenue pour inférieure ; et ces enfants sont réputés selon la lignée maternelle.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a dharma-śāstra style claim: unions within one’s own varṇa are said to yield offspring of the same status, while unions with lower-born women are said to produce ‘inferior’ offspring, whose social identity is counted by the mother’s lineage.
Bhishma is instructing (as a dharma-teacher figure in Anuśāsana Parva) on norms of marriage, lineage, and social classification, explaining how different kinds of unions are traditionally believed to affect the status of children.