Shloka 8
सत्य–अनृत, प्रकाश–तमस्, स्वर्ग–नरक विवेचनम्
Truth and Untruth as Light and Darkness; Svarga and Naraka as Ethical Consequences
कथं सृष्टानि भूतानि कथं वर्णविभक्तय: । शौचाशौचं कथं तेषां धर्माधर्मविधि: कथम्,'प्राणियोंकी सृष्टि किस प्रकार हुई? वर्णोका विभाग किस तरह किया गया? उनमें शौच और अशौचकी व्यवस्था कैसे हुई? तथा धर्म और अधर्मका विधान किस प्रकार किया गया?
kathaṁ sṛṣṭāni bhūtāni kathaṁ varṇavibhaktayaḥ | śaucāśaucaṁ kathaṁ teṣāṁ dharmādharmavidhiḥ katham ||
ビーシュマは言った。「生きとし生けるものは、いかにして最初に生み出されたのか。ヴァルナ（varṇa）の区分はいかに定められたのか。彼らの間で清浄と不浄は、いかなる規則によって決せられたのか。さらに、そもそもダルマとアダルマの法規はいかにして布かれたのか。」
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames foundational inquiries: the origin of beings, the basis of varṇa classification, the rationale for purity/impurity rules, and the establishment of dharma versus adharma. It signals that ethical and social norms are to be understood as part of a larger cosmological and legal order, not merely as custom.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction setting, Bhishma speaks and poses a sequence of systematic questions that invite an explanatory discourse on creation, social organization, ritual norms, and moral law—preparing the ground for a doctrinal answer that follows in the chapter.