Shloka 253
गोमूल्यनिर्णयः — The Determination of Value through the Cow
Nahuṣa–Cyavana Episode
कारावरो निषाद्यां तु चर्मकार: प्रसूयते । इस प्रकार ये तीन नीच जातिके मनुष्य आयोगवीकी संतानें हैं। निघाद जातिकी स्त्रीका यदि वैदेहक जातिके पुरुषसे संसर्ग हो तो क्षुद्र
kārāvaro niṣādyāṃ tu carmakāraḥ prasūyate |
ビーシュマは言った。ニシャーダ族の女（ニシャーディー）からはカーラーヴァラが生まれ、またチャルマカーラ（皮革を扱う者）も生じる。この段でビーシュマは、出生と職業にもとづく伝統的なヴァルナ—ジャーティの分類を述べ、ある種の混淆の結びつきが、村外に住み、狩猟や死獣の皮を扱う仕事によって生計を立てる共同体に結びつくと語る。ゆえに「チャルマカーラ」—皮革の仕事をする者—と呼ばれるのである。
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse is part of Bhishma’s instructional catalog of traditional social classifications, linking birth (especially mixed unions) with named communities and customary occupations. It reflects a prescriptive social taxonomy rather than a universal ethical ideal, and it is presented as an explanatory scheme for social roles and livelihoods.
In Anushasana Parva, Bhishma is instructing Yudhishthira on dharma and social regulations. Here he continues a section describing the origins and occupations of various groups said to arise from particular unions, mentioning Kārāvara and Carmakāra in connection with a Niṣādī.