Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 13
Dāyavibhāga (Inheritance Apportionment) and Household Precedence — Dialogue of Yudhiṣṭhira and Bhīṣma
अपत्यजन्म शूद्रायां न प्रशंसन्ति साधव: । शूद्रायां जनयन् वि्र: प्रायश्चित्ती विधीयते
apatyajanma śūdrāyāṁ na praśaṁsanti sādhavaḥ | śūdrāyāṁ janayan vipraḥ prāyaścittī vidhīyate ||
भीष्म ने कहा—शूद्रा के गर्भ से संतान उत्पन्न करना सज्जन नहीं सराहते। जो ब्राह्मण शूद्रा में संतान उत्पन्न करता है, उसके लिए प्रायश्चित्त का विधान है।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a normative rule of conduct: procreation by a brāhmaṇa with a Śūdra woman is treated as blameworthy in the dharma discourse, and therefore requires prāyaścitta (ritual-moral expiation).
In the Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and proper conduct. Here he states a social-ethical injunction concerning varṇa boundaries and the consequent need for expiation when they are transgressed.