Shloka 11
Varṇasaṃkara: Causes, Classifications, and Conduct-based Recognition (वर्णसंकरः—हेतु-जाति-आचारनिर्णयः)
भीष्म उवाच यथैवात्मा तथा पुत्र: पुत्रेण दुहिता समा । तस्यामात्मनि तिष्ठन्त्यां कथमन्यो धनं हरेत्
bhīṣma uvāca | yathaivātmā tathā putraḥ putreṇa duhitā samā | tasyām ātmani tiṣṭhantyāṃ katham anyo dhanaṃ haret |
Bhishma berkata: “Sebagaimana diri sendiri, demikianlah juga anak lelaki; dan anak perempuan adalah setara dengan anak lelaki. Selagi ‘diri’ yang berjasad—dalam rupa anak—masih hadir, bagaimana mungkin orang lain berhak merampas harta orang itu?”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma affirms an ethical-dharmic principle of inheritance: a daughter is equal to a son, and as long as one’s rightful offspring (the continuation of one’s own ‘self’) exists, outsiders have no legitimate claim to seize the person’s wealth.
In the Anushasana Parva’s instruction on dharma, Bhishma is laying down a rule-like moral argument about rightful heirs and property: he equates daughter with son and uses that equality to deny the legitimacy of third-party appropriation of a family’s wealth.