Shloka 16
गोमूल्यनिर्णयः — The Determination of Value through the Cow
Nahuṣa–Cyavana Episode
ते चापि सदृशं वर्ण जनयन्ति स्वयोनिषु | परस्परस्य दारेषु जनयन्ति विगर्हितान्
te cāpi sadṛśaṃ varṇaṃ janayanti svayoniṣu | parasparasya dāreṣu janayanti vigarhitān |
Bhīṣma dit : « Ceux qui sont nés d’ordres mêlés engendrent eux aussi une descendance de condition semblable lorsqu’ils s’unissent entre eux. Mais lorsqu’ils ont commerce avec les épouses les uns des autres—des femmes de groupes différents—les enfants qui naissent sont tenus pour plus blâmables encore qu’eux-mêmes. »
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma links social and moral disorder to sexual misconduct: unions within one’s own kind reproduce similar status, but violating marital boundaries and crossing into others’ wives is condemned and is said to yield offspring viewed as even more reprehensible.
In Anushasana Parva, Bhishma is instructing Yudhishthira on dharma. Here he discusses the consequences of varṇa-saṅkara (mixed social order) and especially censures illicit relations with others’ wives, framing it as a serious ethical breach with harmful social outcomes.