Shloka 17
Dāyavibhāga (Inheritance Apportionment) and Household Precedence — Dialogue of Yudhiṣṭhira and Bhīṣma
प्रजा न हीयते तस्या रतिश्ष भरतर्षभ । अतोडन््यथा वर्तमाना भवेद् वाच्या प्रजापते:
prajā na hīyate tasyā ratiś ca bharatarṣabha | ato 'nyathā vartamānā bhaved vācyā prajāpateḥ ||
भीष्म उवाच—भरतर्षभ! एवं कृते तस्याः कन्यायाः तेन पुरुषेण सह सम्बन्धो न हीयते, न च तदुत्पन्ना प्रजा हीनत्वेन गण्यते। यस्तु एतस्माद् विधेर्विपरीतं वर्तते, सा स्त्री प्रजापतेर्दृष्टौ निन्द्या भवति, धर्ममर्यादां हि लङ्घयति।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
When conduct follows the sanctioned rule, neither the woman’s union nor the resulting progeny is considered inferior; deviation from the prescribed norm is morally censured, framed as blameworthy before Prajāpati.
In Bhīṣma’s instruction to Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma, he clarifies a rule about sexual/relational conduct and the status of offspring: proper, rule-bound relations do not taint progeny, whereas acting ‘otherwise’ invites condemnation.