Shloka 23
च्यवन-कुशिक-संवादः
Cyavana–Kuśika Dialogue on Hospitality, Service, and Lineage Questions
भीष्म उवाच आत्मवत् तस्य कुर्वीत संस्कारं स्वामिवत् तथा । त्यक्तो मातापितृभ्यां यः सवर्ण प्रतिपद्यते
bhīṣma uvāca | ātmavat tasya kurvīta saṃskāraṃ svāmivat tathā | tyakto mātāpitr̥bhyāṃ yaḥ savarṇaḥ pratipadyate |
毗湿摩说道：“当为此子行诸种萨姆斯迦罗（saṃskāra）之礼，如同为己子而行——确如为自己所护持的正当依附者而行。凡为父母所弃之子，既被监护者收纳抚养，便被视为归属于该监护者之种姓阶序（varṇa）；故养父当依自身之varṇa，为其举行诸礼。”
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
If parents abandon a child and a guardian accepts and maintains him, the guardian bears dharmic responsibility to perform the child’s saṃskāras properly, treating him as one’s own; the child is socially reckoned to the guardian’s varna for purposes of rites and formation.
In Bhishma’s dharma-instruction (Anushasana Parva), he lays down a rule concerning an abandoned child: once taken in by a protector, the child’s ritual upbringing and social classification for rites follow the protector who assumes care.