Shloka 18
गोमूल्यनिर्णयः — The Determination of Value through the Cow
Nahuṣa–Cyavana Episode
प्रतिलोम॑ तु वर्धन्ते बाह्माद् बाह्ुतरात् पुनः । हीनाद्धीना: प्रसूयन्ते वर्णा: पजचदशैव तु
pratilomaṁ tu vardhante brāhmād bāhutārāt punaḥ | hīnād hīnāḥ prasūyante varṇāḥ pañcadaśaiva tu ||
ビーシュマは言った。「定められた秩序に逆らう『プラティローマ（逆順）』の結合においては、子孫はますます多様な混成として増え広がる。『下』と見なされる者から、さらに『下』の群が生まれる。ゆえに、そのような混成の類は総じて十五種あると説かれる。」
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a dharma-śāstra style warning: when socially ‘pratiloma’ unions occur, the resulting lineages are described as proliferating into increasingly mixed and ‘lower’ categories, producing confusion about social identity and corresponding duties.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma is instructing Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma. Here he is discussing classifications of progeny from cross-unions and emphasizing the traditional normative framework that treats certain unions as disruptive to established social and ritual order.