Shloka 8
Varṇasaṃkara: Causes, Classifications, and Conduct-based Recognition (वर्णसंकरः—हेतु-जाति-आचारनिर्णयः)
असदेव हि धर्मस्य प्रदानं धर्म आसुर: । नानुशुश्रुम जात्वेतामिमां पूर्वेषु कर्मसु
Bhīṣma uvāca: asad eva hi dharmasya pradānaṃ dharma āsuraḥ | nānuśuśruma jātvetām imāṃ pūrveṣu karmasu | striyaḥ sadā pitā pati vā putrāṇāṃ rakṣaṇeṣuiva tiṣṭhanti, na svatantrā bhavanti | eṣa purātano dharmaḥ | asya dharmasya khaṇḍanaṃ asat-karma vā āsura-dharmaḥ | pūrvakāle vṛddhaiḥ vivāha-kāle kadācit asyā āsuryāḥ paddhateḥ ācaritaṃ na śrutam iti |
毗湿摩说道：“将并非己有之物施与他人，实为非义；那是阿修罗式的‘法’。我们从未听闻古昔长老在其行事中曾遵行此法。依古制，女子恒在父之庇护、或夫之庇护、或子之庇护之下；不被视为独立。此乃古老的行持之则。违越此则，便是邪行——阿修罗式的‘法’。在往昔诸世，我们未曾听闻可敬的长老在婚姻之时采用过这等阿修罗的方法。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma frames ‘dharma’ as grounded in legitimate authority and inherited tradition: giving away what is not rightfully one’s to give is condemned as ‘asuric dharma,’ and violating established norms is treated as unethical rather than righteous.
In his instruction on conduct (dharma), Bhishma rejects a certain marriage-related practice as illegitimate and contrary to ancestral precedent, appealing to what the elders of earlier times are said to have practiced and transmitted.