Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 52
Cyavana’s Water-Vow and the Ethics of Cohabitation (स्नेह-सम्वास-धर्मः)
वैश्यस्य वर्तमानस्य वैश्यायां भरतर्षभ । शूद्रायां चापि कौन्तेय तयोविनियम: स्मृत:
vaiśyasya vartamānasya vaiśyāyāṃ bharatarṣabha | śūdrāyāṃ cāpi kaunteya tayor viniyamaḥ smṛtaḥ ||
Bhishma bersabda: “Wahai yang termulia di antara keturunan Bharata, wahai putra Kuntī: bila seorang Vaiśya yang hidup dalam dharma grihastha memiliki putra dari seorang perempuan Vaiśyā dan juga dari seorang perempuan Śūdrā, maka bagi mereka pun aturan pembagian (hak dan bagian harta) diingat sama, sesuai ketentuan yang telah ditetapkan bagi keturunan campuran demikian.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse states that Smṛti tradition recognizes a specific, established rule (viniyama) for allocating wealth/entitlements when a Vaiśya has sons from both a Vaiśyā and a Śūdrā; Bhīṣma emphasizes that the distribution should follow the remembered legal-ethical regulation rather than personal preference.
In the Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and social-legal norms. Here he addresses a case of mixed parentage within a Vaiśya household and indicates that traditional law provides a defined rule for how the two sets of sons are to be treated in matters like division of property.