Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 9
Cyavana’s Water-Vow and the Ethics of Cohabitation (स्नेह-सम्वास-धर्मः)
शूद्रां शयनमारोप्य ब्राह्मणो यात्यधोगतिम् । प्रायश्षित्तीयते चापि विधिदृष्टेन कर्मणा
śūdrāṁ śayanam āropya brāhmaṇo yāty adhogatim | prāyaścittīyate cāpi vidhidṛṣṭena karmaṇā ||
Sinabi ni Bhīṣma: “Kapag inilagay ng isang brāhmaṇa ang isang babaeng Śūdra sa kanyang higaan (ibig sabihin, nakipagniig sa ipinagbabawal na paraan), siya’y babagsak sa mas mababang kalagayan. Gayunman, maaari rin siyang luminis sa pamamagitan ng pagtubos-sala, sa pagsasagawa ng ritwal na itinakda ayon sa tuntunin.”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse states that violating prescribed sexual boundaries (a brāhmaṇa taking a śūdra woman to bed) is a serious dharmic transgression leading to moral/spiritual decline, but it also affirms the dharma-śāstric principle that such faults can be addressed through properly prescribed prāyaścitta (expiatory rites).
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma, including social and ritual norms. Here he gives a rule-and-remedy formulation: he names a prohibited act and then notes that purification is possible through the expiation laid down by scriptural injunction.