Mahabharata — Anushasana Parva, Shloka 15
गोमूल्यनिर्णयः — The Determination of Value through the Cow
Nahuṣa–Cyavana Episode
यथा चतुर्ष वर्णेषु द्वयोरात्मास्य जायते । आनन्तर्यात् प्रजायन्ते तथा बाह्या: प्रधानत:
yathā caturṣu varṇeṣu dvayor ātmāsya jāyate | ānantaryāt prajāyante tathā bāhyāḥ pradhānataḥ ||
毗湿摩说：“正如四姓之中，若在本姓之内生子——或与仅低一等、且不越过中间一等的女子生子——此子仍计入父之本姓；但若越界而跳过一等，与更低等的女子生子，则其后代大体被视为‘外于’父姓，而归入母方较低的身份。同样，在九种杂类族群（如安婆湿吒、波罗舍婆、乌伽罗、苏多、毗提诃迦、旃陀罗、摩揭陀、尼沙陀与阿瑜伽婆）之中，若在本族群内或与紧邻的下一等族群生子，子女便算作父族之属；但若跳过一族群而与更下者生子，则子女便按母方较卑的族类来认定。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma lays out a rule-of-thumb for assigning a child’s social status in cases of unions across groups: if the union is within the same group or with the immediately lower group (no skipped intermediary), the child is counted with the father; if an intermediate group is skipped, the child is treated as ‘outside’ the father’s group and aligned with the mother’s inferior status.
In the Anuśāsana Parva’s instructional setting, Bhīṣma is explaining to Yudhiṣṭhira normative classifications of mixed communities and descent. This verse extends a principle stated for the four varṇas to nine named mixed jāti-groups, describing how offspring are categorized depending on whether the union crosses adjacent or non-adjacent social boundaries.