Shloka 8
Varṇasaṃkara: Causes, Classifications, and Conduct-based Recognition (वर्णसंकरः—हेतु-जाति-आचारनिर्णयः)
असदेव हि धर्मस्य प्रदानं धर्म आसुर: । नानुशुश्रुम जात्वेतामिमां पूर्वेषु कर्मसु
Bhīṣma uvāca: asad eva hi dharmasya pradānaṃ dharma āsuraḥ | nānuśuśruma jātvetām imāṃ pūrveṣu karmasu | striyaḥ sadā pitā pati vā putrāṇāṃ rakṣaṇeṣuiva tiṣṭhanti, na svatantrā bhavanti | eṣa purātano dharmaḥ | asya dharmasya khaṇḍanaṃ asat-karma vā āsura-dharmaḥ | pūrvakāle vṛddhaiḥ vivāha-kāle kadācit asyā āsuryāḥ paddhateḥ ācaritaṃ na śrutam iti |
ビーシュマは言った。「己のものならぬものを与えることは、まことにアダルマである。それはアスラ的な『ダルマ』にほかならぬ。われらは、古の長老たちの行いの中に、このような慣行が用いられたと聞いたことがない。古来の秩序において、女は常に父、あるいは夫、あるいは子らの庇護の下にあり、独立の者とは見なされぬ。これこそ古き行持の規範である。これを破るは邪なる行い—アスラ的『ダルマ』である。往昔、婚姻の折に、尊ぶべき長老たちがかかるアスラの方法を採ったとは、われらは聞き及ばぬ。」
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma frames ‘dharma’ as grounded in legitimate authority and inherited tradition: giving away what is not rightfully one’s to give is condemned as ‘asuric dharma,’ and violating established norms is treated as unethical rather than righteous.
In his instruction on conduct (dharma), Bhishma rejects a certain marriage-related practice as illegitimate and contrary to ancestral precedent, appealing to what the elders of earlier times are said to have practiced and transmitted.