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 ||
Wika ni Bhīṣma: “O pinakadakila sa angkan ng Bharata, O anak ni Kuntī: kapag ang isang Vaiśya, habang namumuhay bilang maybahay, ay may mga anak na lalaki sa isang babaeng Vaiśya at mayroon din sa isang babaeng Śūdrā, ang tuntunin sa paglalaan ng kanilang bahagi ay naaalala na kapareho ng itinakdang alituntunin para sa gayong halong supling.”
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.