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Mahābhārata • Parva 13 (Anuśāsanaparva) • Adhyāya 48

Anuśāsanaparva Adhyāya 48

अनुशासनपर्व • अध्यायः 48

Anuśāsanaparva Adhyāya 48 of the classical Mahābhārata with 50 verses.

Total: 50 Verses • Citations: MBh 13.48.1–50 • 250 Lexicon Terms • Page 2 of 2 (Verses 20 shown)
चतुर्णामेव वर्णानां धर्मो नान्यस्य विद्यते । वर्णानां धर्महीनेषु संज्ञा नास्तीह कस्यचित् ॥
English Translation
The duties have been laid down in the scriptures of only the four principal castes. About others, the scriptures are entirely silent. Among all the castes, the members of those castes that have no duties assigned to them by the scriptures, need entertain no fears as to what they do.
यदृच्छयोपसंपन्नैर्यज्ञसाधुबहिष्कृतैः । बाह्या बाह्यैस्तु जायन्ते यथावृत्ति यथाश्रयम् ॥
English Translation
Persons unaccustomed to the performance of sacrifices or for whom sacrifices have not been laid down, and who are deprived of the company and the instructions of the pious, whether classed among the four principal castes or out of their limit, by uniting themselves with women of other castes, led not by considerations of virtue but by uncontrolled lust, cause numerous mixed castes to originate whose occupations and houses depend on the circumstances connected with the irregular unions from which they spring.
चतुष्पथश्मशानानि शैलांश्चान्यान्वनस्पतीन् । युञ्जन्ते चाप्यलंकारांस्तथोपकरणानि च ॥
English Translation
Having recourse to such places where four roads meet, or crematoria, or hills and mountains, or forests and trees, they build their houses. The ornaments they wear are made of iron.
गोब्राह्मणार्थे साहाय्यं कुर्वाणा वै न संशयः । आनृशंस्यमनुक्रोशः सत्यवाक्यमथ क्षमा ॥
English Translation
Forsooth, by assisting kine and Brahmanas, and practising the virtues of abstention from cruelty, compassion, truthfulness of speech, and forgiveness, and, if it is necessary, protecting others by sacrificing their own lives, persons of the mixed castes, may acquire success. I have no doubt, o king that these virtucs become the causes of their success.
स्वशरीरैः परित्राणं बाह्यानां सिद्धिकारकम् । मनुजव्याघ्र भवति तत्र मे नास्ति संशयः ॥
यथोपदेशं परिकीर्तितासु; नरः प्रजायेत विचार्य बुद्धिमान् । विहीनयोनिर्हि सुतोऽवसादये;त्तितीर्षमाणं सलिले यथोपलम् ॥
English Translation
He who is gifted with intelligence, should, taking everything into consideration, beget children according to the scriptural injunctions, upon women that have been declared as proper or fit for him. A son begotten upon a woman belonging to a degraded caste, instead of rescuing the father, brings him to grief even as a heavy burden brings to grief a swimmer desirous of crossing a pool of water.
अविद्वांसमलं लोके विद्वांसमपि वा पुनः । नयन्ते ह्युत्पथं नार्यः कामक्रोधवशानुगम् ॥
English Translation
Whether a man is learned or otherwise, lust and anger are natural tendencies of humanity in this world. Women, therefore, may always be seen to drag men into the wrong path.
स्वभावश्चैव नारीणां नराणामिह दूषणम् । इत्यर्थं न प्रसज्जन्ते प्रमदासु विपश्चितः ॥
English Translation
The disposition of women is such that man's contact with her produces misery. Hence, wise men do not allow themselves to be excessively attached to women.
वर्णापेतमविज्ञातं नरं कलुषयोनिजम् । आर्यरूपमिवानार्यं कथं विद्यामहे नृप ॥
English Translation
Yudhishthira said There are men who belong to the mixed castes, and who are of very impure birth. Putting respectable appearance, they are, in sooth, disrespectable. On account of those external signs we may not be able to know the truth about their birth. Are there any signs, O grandfather, by which the truth may be known about the origin of such men?
योनिसंकलुषे जातं नानाचारसमाहितम् । कर्मभिः सज्जनाचीर्णैर्विज्ञेया योनिशुद्धता ॥
English Translation
Bhishma said A person who is born of an irregular union shows various features of disposition. One's purity of birth, again, is to be determined from one's acts which must resemble the acts of those who are admittedly good and pious.
अनार्यत्वमनाचारः क्रूरत्वं निष्क्रियात्मता । पुरुषं व्यञ्जयन्तीह लोके कलुषयोनिजम् ॥
English Translation
A disrespectable conduct, acts opposed to those laid down in the scriptures, crookedness and cruelty, and abstention from sacrifices and other scriptural acts that lead to merit, show one's impurity of birth.
पित्र्यं वा भजते शीलं मातृजं वा तथोभयम् । न कथंचन संकीर्णः प्रकृतिं स्वां नियच्छति ॥
English Translation
A son inherits the disposition of either the father or the mother. Sometimes he inherits the dispositions of both. A person of impure birth can never succeed in concealing his true nature.
यथैव सदृशो रूपे मातापित्रोर्हि जायते । व्याघ्रश्चित्रैस्तथा योनिं पुरुषः स्वां नियच्छति ॥
English Translation
As the cub of a tiger resembles its father and dam in form and in stripes or spots, so a person cannot but show the circumstance of his origin.
कुलस्रोतसि संछन्ने यस्य स्याद्योनिसंकरः । संश्रयत्येव तच्छीलं नरोऽल्पमपि वा बहु ॥
English Translation
However secret may one's birth be, if that birth happens to be impure, its character or nature is sure to show itself slightly or largely.
आर्यरूपसमाचारं चरन्तं कृतके पथि । स्ववर्णमन्यवर्णं वा स्वशीलं शास्ति निश्चये ॥
English Translation
A person may for purposes of his own, choose to follow an insincere path, practising such conduct as seems to be pious. His own nature, however, in the matter of those acts that he does, always announces whether he belongs to a good caste or to a different one.
नानावृत्तेषु भूतेषु नानाकर्मरतेषु च । जन्मवृत्तसमं लोके सुश्लिष्टं न विरज्यते ॥
English Translation
Creatures in the world are gifted with various kinds of disposition. They are, again, seen to be employed in various kinds of acts. Amongst creatures thus engaged, there is nothing that is so good or valuable as pure birth and righteous conduct.
शरीरमिह सत्त्वेन नरस्य परिकृष्यते । ज्येष्ठमध्यावरं सत्त्वं तुल्यसत्त्वं प्रमोदते ॥
English Translation
If a person be born in a low caste, good understanding originating from a study of the scriptures fails to rescue his body from low acts. Absolute goodness of understanding is of different degrees. It may be high, middling, and low. Even if it appears in a person of low birth, it disappears like autumnal clouds without producing any result. On the other hand, goodness of understanding which, according to its measure, has ordained the position in which the person is born, shows itself in his deeds.
ज्यायांसमपि शीलेन विहीनं नैव पूजयेत् । अपि शूद्रं तु सद्वृत्तं धर्मज्ञमभिपूजयेत् ॥
English Translation
If a person happens to belong to a superior caste but still if he happens to be divested of good conduct, he should receive no respect or worship. One may adore even a Shudra if he knows his duties and is of good conduct.
आत्मानमाख्याति हि कर्मभिर्नरः; स्वशीलचारित्रकृतैः शुभाशुभैः । प्रनष्टमप्यात्मकुलं तथा नरः; पुनः प्रकाशं कुरुते स्वकर्मभिः ॥
English Translation
A person proclaims himself by his own good and bad deeds and by his good or bad nature and race of birth. If ones' race of birth happens to be degraded for any reason, one soon raises it and makes it resplendent and famous by his deeds.
योनिष्वेतासु सर्वासु संकीर्णास्वितरासु च । यत्रात्मानं न जनयेद्बुधस्ताः परिवर्जयेत् ॥
English Translation
For these reasons the wise should avoid those women among these various castes mixed, upon whom they should not beget children.
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