Shloka 18
गोमूल्यनिर्णयः — The Determination of Value through the Cow
Nahuṣa–Cyavana Episode
प्रतिलोम॑ तु वर्धन्ते बाह्माद् बाह्ुतरात् पुनः । हीनाद्धीना: प्रसूयन्ते वर्णा: पजचदशैव तु
pratilomaṁ tu vardhante brāhmād bāhutārāt punaḥ | hīnād hīnāḥ prasūyante varṇāḥ pañcadaśaiva tu ||
毗湿摩说：在被称为“逆序婚”（pratiloma，违背既定秩序）的结合中，后代会繁衍出愈加纷杂的混合形态；由被视为“卑下”者，又生出“更卑下”的群类。因此，总计有十五种这样的杂类被提及。
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse presents a dharma-śāstra style warning: when socially ‘pratiloma’ unions occur, the resulting lineages are described as proliferating into increasingly mixed and ‘lower’ categories, producing confusion about social identity and corresponding duties.
In Anuśāsana Parva, Bhīṣma is instructing Yudhiṣṭhira on dharma. Here he is discussing classifications of progeny from cross-unions and emphasizing the traditional normative framework that treats certain unions as disruptive to established social and ritual order.