Shloka 27
Cyavana’s Water-Vow and the Ethics of Cohabitation (स्नेह-सम्वास-धर्मः)
युधिछिर उवाच शूद्रायां ब्राह्मणाज्जातो यद्यदेयधन: स्मृत: । केन प्रतिविशेषेण दशमो<प्यस्य दीयते
Yudhiṣṭhira uvāca—
Śūdrāyāṁ brāhmaṇāj jāto yady adeya-dhanaḥ smṛtaḥ |
Kena prati-viśeṣeṇa daśamo ’py asya dīyate ||
ユディシュティラは言った。「もし伝承において、バラモンがシュードラの女からもうけた息子は財を与えるべきでない者と記されているのなら、いかなる特別の区別によって、なお父の財の十分の一までもが彼に割り当てられるのですか。」
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames a dharma-śāstric problem: how to reconcile a general rule of ineligibility for inheritance with an acknowledged exception granting a limited share. It highlights the Mahābhārata’s method of ethical inquiry—testing rules against nuanced cases and asking for the rationale (viśeṣa) behind exceptions.
In Anuśāsana Parva’s instruction on dharma, Yudhiṣṭhira questions an elder/teacher about inheritance: if a son born to a brāhmaṇa from a śūdrā woman is said to be ‘not to receive property,’ why do some authorities still assign him a tenth portion of the father’s wealth?