Anushasana Parva Adhyaya 50 Shloka 15 - Mahabharata | Thai | Vedapath

Vyasa

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Shloka 15

Cyavana’s Water-Vow and the Ethics of Cohabitation (स्नेह-सम्वास-धर्मः)

Devanagari script

शूद्रायां ब्राह्म॒णाज्जातो नित्यादेयधन: स्मृतः । अल्पं चापि प्रदातव्यं शूद्रापुत्राय भारत

Transliteration

śūdrāyāṁ brāhmaṇāj jāto nityādeyadhanaḥ smṛtaḥ | alpaṁ cāpi pradātavyaṁ śūdrāputrāya bhārata ||

Translation

ภีษมะกล่าวว่า “บุตรที่พราหมณ์ได้จากสตรีศูทร ตามจารีตถือว่าเป็นผู้มีทรัพย์ที่อยู่ในฐานะ ‘ต้องถูกเรียกเอาได้โดยจำเป็น’ และโอ ภารตะ แม้แก่บุตรของศูทร ก็ควรให้เพียงของกำนัลเล็กน้อยเท่านั้น”

Word by Word

शूद्रायाम्in a Shudra woman

ब्राह्मणात्from a Brahmin (man)

जातःborn

नित्यalways/regularly (as a qualifier)

आदेयधनःone whose wealth is to be taken/liable to confiscation

स्मृतःis considered/declared

अल्पम्a little (amount)

चand

अपिeven/also

प्रदातव्यम्is to be given/should be given

शूद्रापुत्रायto the son of a Shudra woman

भारतO Bharata

Speaker

भीष्म उवाच

Characters & Entities

Bhīṣma

Bhārata (Yudhiṣṭhira)

Brāhmaṇa

Śūdra

wealth (dhana)

Character Dynamics

Dharma Sankata (Moral Dilemma)

Verse Rasa (Emotional Essence)

Philosophical Teaching

Political Layer

Meter (Chandas)

Sandhi Notes

Educational Q&A

What is the core teaching?

The verse states a traditional normative rule about social status affecting property rights and the scale of gifts: a son born of a Brāhmaṇa by a Śūdra woman is described as having wealth that is ‘always liable to be taken/levied,’ and gifts to a Śūdra’s son are advised to be small—reflecting a hierarchy-based dharma framework in this section on conduct and giving.

What is happening in the narrative?

In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma, including rules concerning dāna (gift-giving) and social regulations. Here he articulates a prescriptive tradition about how gifts and property are to be treated in relation to varṇa and birth.