Shloka 19
Varṇasaṃkara: Causes, Classifications, and Conduct-based Recognition (वर्णसंकरः—हेतु-जाति-आचारनिर्णयः)
सप्तावरे महाघोरे निरये कालसाह्वये । स्वेदं मूत्र पुरीषं च तस्मिन् मूढ: समश्ुते,“जो मनुष्य अपने पुत्रको बेचकर धन पाना चाहता है अथवा जीविकाके लिये मूल्य लेकर कन्याको बेच देता है, वह मूढ़ कुम्भीपाक आदि सात नरकोंसे भी निकृष्ट कालसूत्र नामक नरकमें पड़कर अपने ही मल-मूत्र और पसीनेका भक्षण करता है”
saptāvare mahāghore niraye kālasāhvaye | svedaṃ mūtra-purīṣaṃ ca tasmin mūḍhaḥ samaśnute ||
सप्तावरे महाघोरे निरये कालसाह्वये। स्वेदं मूत्रपुरीषं च तस्मिन् मूढः समश्नुते॥
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse condemns greed-driven trafficking within one’s own family—selling a son or selling a maiden for payment—as a severe adharma. It teaches that such acts destroy moral order and invite extreme karmic retribution, symbolized by degradation and self-defilement in hell.
Bhīṣma is instructing Yudhiṣṭhira in the Anuśāsana Parva on righteous conduct and the consequences of grave sins. Here he describes a specific hell (Kālasūtra/Kāla) and the humiliating punishment awaiting those who commodify their children for wealth or livelihood.