Shloka 14
गोमूल्यनिर्णयः — The Determination of Value through the Cow
Nahuṣa–Cyavana Episode
एते5पि सदृशान् वर्णान् जनयन्ति स्वयोनिषु । मातृजात्या: प्रसूयन्ते हवरा हीनयोनिषु
Bhīṣma uvāca: ete 'pi sadṛśān varṇān janayanti svayoniṣu | mātṛjātyāḥ prasūyante 'varā hīna-yoniṣu ||
हे वर्णसंकर पुरुषही जेव्हा आपल्या जातीतल्या स्त्रीशी संयोग करतात, तेव्हा आपल्या समान वर्णाची संतती उत्पन्न करतात. पण जेव्हा आपल्या पेक्षा हीन जातीतल्या स्त्रीशी संसर्ग करतात, तेव्हा नीच संतती जन्माला येते; आणि अशी संतती मातृजातीनुसारच मानली जाते.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a dharma-śāstra style claim: unions within one’s own varṇa are said to yield offspring of the same status, while unions with lower-born women are said to produce ‘inferior’ offspring, whose social identity is counted by the mother’s lineage.
Bhishma is instructing (as a dharma-teacher figure in Anuśāsana Parva) on norms of marriage, lineage, and social classification, explaining how different kinds of unions are traditionally believed to affect the status of children.