Shloka 23
गोमूल्यनिर्णयः — The Determination of Value through the Cow
Nahuṣa–Cyavana Episode
इस प्रकार मागध जातिकी सैरन्ध्री स्त्री आयोगव आदि चार जातियोंसे समागम करके मायासे जीविका चलानेवाले पूर्वोक्त चार प्रकारके क्रूर पुत्रोंकोी उत्पन्न करती है। इनके सिवा दूसरे भी चार प्रकारके पुत्र मागधी सैरन्ध्रीसे उत्पन्न होते हैं जो उसके सजातीय अर्थात् मागध-सैरन्ध्रसे ही उत्पन्न होते हैं। उनकी मांस
vaidehakāc ca pāpiṣṭhā krūra-māyopajīvinam | niṣādān madranābhaṃ ca khara-yāna-prayāyinam ||
Bhishma said: From a Vaidehaka man, that most sinful woman of the Āyogava stock gives birth to a son who is exceedingly cruel and lives by deceit. And from union with a Niṣāda she produces another group called Madranābha, people known for travelling by riding donkeys. The passage continues Bhishma’s ethical warning about social disorder and the harsh, deceptive livelihoods that arise from illicit or transgressive unions, presenting them as causes of cruelty and moral decline.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames deceit-based livelihood and cruelty as outcomes of transgressive unions, using genealogical classifications to warn that social and ethical disorder (adharma) produces harmful character and unstable ways of life.
In Bhishma’s instruction to Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma, he enumerates categories of offspring said to arise from specific unions; here he names a cruel, deceit-living son from a Vaidehaka father and a group called Madranābha from a Niṣāda father, characterized by donkey-riding travel.