Mahabharata — Shalya Parva, Shloka 8
Asita Devala Observes Jaigīṣavya’s Yogic Attainment and Chooses Mokṣa-dharma (देवल-जैगीषव्योपाख्यानम्)
असकृत् पृथिवीं जित्वा हतक्षत्रियपुड्भवाम् । उपाध्यायं पुरस्कृत्य कश्यपं मुनिसत्तमम्
asakṛt pṛthivīṁ jitvā hatakṣatriyapuḍbhavām | upādhyāyaṁ puraskṛtya kaśyapaṁ munisattamam ||
Vaiśampāyana said: After repeatedly conquering the earth—having made it bereft of kṣatriyas—Paraśurāma placed the sage Kaśyapa, the foremost of seers, before him as his preceptor. Having thus acknowledged spiritual authority after violent victory, he proceeded to honor the Lord through great sacrifices and finally relinquished the earth itself as a gift.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Power gained through violence is not the final measure of righteousness; true dharma requires submission to spiritual authority (the guru/ṛṣi) and the capacity to relinquish what one has seized. The verse frames conquest as incomplete until it is transformed into restraint, expiation, and giving.
Vaiśampāyana recounts how Paraśurāma, after repeatedly defeating and killing kṣatriya rulers and thereby conquering the earth, honored the sage Kaśyapa as his leading preceptor. In the broader episode (as reflected in the accompanying tradition), this leads into great sacrifices and the eventual gifting away of the earth as a form of dakṣiṇā.
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