Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 52
Cyavana’s Water-Vow and the Ethics of Cohabitation (स्नेह-सम्वास-धर्मः)
वैश्यस्य वर्तमानस्य वैश्यायां भरतर्षभ । शूद्रायां चापि कौन्तेय तयोविनियम: स्मृत:
vaiśyasya vartamānasya vaiśyāyāṃ bharatarṣabha | śūdrāyāṃ cāpi kaunteya tayor viniyamaḥ smṛtaḥ ||
ਭੀਸ਼ਮ ਨੇ ਆਖਿਆ—ਹੇ ਭਰਤ-ਸ਼੍ਰੇਸ਼ਠ, ਹੇ ਕੌਂਤੇਯ, ਗ੍ਰਿਹਸਥ ਧਰਮ ਵਿੱਚ ਰਹਿੰਦੇ ਵੈਸ਼ਯ ਦੇ ਜੇ ਵੈਸ਼ਿਆ ਅਤੇ ਸ਼ੂਦਰਾ—ਦੋਹਾਂ ਤੋਂ ਪੁੱਤਰ ਹੋਣ, ਤਾਂ ਉਨ੍ਹਾਂ ਲਈ ਵੀ ਧਨ-ਵੰਡ ਦਾ ਉਹੀ ਨਿਯਮ ਸਮ੍ਰਿਤਿ ਵਿੱਚ ਯਾਦ ਕੀਤਾ ਗਿਆ ਹੈ।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse states that Smṛti tradition recognizes a specific, established rule (viniyama) for allocating wealth/entitlements when a Vaiśya has sons from both a Vaiśyā and a Śūdrā; Bhīṣma emphasizes that the distribution should follow the remembered legal-ethical regulation rather than personal preference.
In the Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma and social-legal norms. Here he addresses a case of mixed parentage within a Vaiśya household and indicates that traditional law provides a defined rule for how the two sets of sons are to be treated in matters like division of property.