Shloka 20
Varṇasaṃkara: Causes, Classifications, and Conduct-based Recognition (वर्णसंकरः—हेतु-जाति-आचारनिर्णयः)
आर्षे गोमिथुनं शुल्क केचिदाहुर्मुषैव तत् । अल्पो वा बहु वा राजन् विक्रयस्तावदेव स:
ārṣe gomithunaṁ śulkaṁ kecid āhur muṣaiva tat | alpo vā bahu vā rājan vikrayas tāvad eva saḥ ||
Bhīṣma berkata: “Wahai raja, ada yang mengatakan bahawa dalam perkahwinan bentuk Ārṣa, bayaran pengantin yang ditetapkan ialah sepasang ternakan—seekor lembu betina dan seekor lembu jantan. Namun itu sebenarnya tanggapan yang salah; kerana sama ada bayaran itu sedikit atau banyak, hakikatnya tetap sama: ia menjadi penjualan gadis itu.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma teaches that taking any payment as a condition of marriage—whether small or large—turns the act into a ‘sale’ (vikraya) of the bride, and is therefore ethically and dharmically objectionable, even if some try to justify it under the label of Ārṣa marriage.
In the Anuśāsana Parva’s dharma-instruction, Bhīṣma addresses the king (Yudhiṣṭhira) and clarifies a disputed point about the Ārṣa form of marriage: he rejects the idea that giving a cow and bull as ‘śulka’ is a valid prescription, arguing that it effectively constitutes commercialization of the maiden.