Shloka 31
Daṇḍotpatti-kathana (Origin and Function of Daṇḍa) — वसुहोम–मान्धातृ संवाद
तीक्ष्णता मृदुता मृत्युरागमानागमौ तथा । विरोधश्चाविरोधश्व् कार्याकार्ये बलाबले
bhīṣma uvāca | tīkṣṇatā mṛdutā mṛtyur āgamānāgamau tathā | virodhaś cāvirodhaś ca kāryākārye balābale | arthānarthau sukha-duḥkhe dharmādharmau balābale | daurbhāgya-saubhāgye puṇya-pāpe guṇāvaguṇau kāmākāmau | ṛtu-māsau dina-rātrau kṣaṇaḥ pramādāpramādau harṣa-krodhau śama-damau | daiva-puruṣārthau bandha-mokṣau bhayābhaye hiṃsāhiṃse tapa-yajñau saṃyamaḥ | viṣāviṣe ādy-anta-madhye kārya-vistāraḥ madaḥ asāvadhānatā darpaḥ dambhaḥ dhairyam | nītī-anītī śakty-aśaktī mānaḥ stabdhatā vyayāvyaye vinayaḥ dānam | kālākālau satyāsatye jñānaṃ śraddhāśraddhe akarmaṇyatā udyogaḥ | lābhahānī jayaparājayau tīkṣṇatā-mṛdutā mṛtyuḥ ānā-jānaṃ virodhāvirodhau | kartavyākartavye sabalatā-nirbalatā asūyānasūye dharmādharmau lajjālajje | sampatti-vipattī sthānaṃ tejaḥ karma pāṇḍityaṃ vāk-śaktiḥ tathā tattva-bodhaḥ—ete sarve daṇḍasyaiva nāma-rūpāṇi bahūni | kurunandana! evaṃ jagati daṇḍasya bahavo rūpāṇi ||
Bhishma said: Sharpness and gentleness, death, coming and not coming; opposition and non-opposition; what ought to be done and what ought not; strength and weakness; profit and loss, pleasure and pain; dharma and adharma; good fortune and misfortune; merit and sin; virtue and defect; desire and absence of desire; seasons and months; day and night; a moment; heedlessness and vigilance; joy and anger; calm and self-restraint; destiny and human effort; bondage and liberation; fear and fearlessness; violence and non-violence; austerity and sacrifice; discipline; poison and non-poison; beginning, end, and middle; the expansion of an undertaking; intoxication, inattention, pride, hypocrisy, fortitude; right policy and wrong policy; power and powerlessness; honor, rigidity; expenditure and non-expenditure; humility and giving; timely and untimely; truth and falsehood; knowledge; faith and lack of faith; idleness and enterprise; gain and loss; victory and defeat—O delight of the Kurus, all these are but the many names and forms of daṇḍa (the principle of restraint/punishment and governance). Thus, in this world, daṇḍa appears in countless forms.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhishma teaches that daṇḍa—understood as the principle of restraint, correction, and governance—pervades worldly life. The many opposites (gentle/harsh, gain/loss, dharma/adharma, vigilance/heedlessness, etc.) are presented as diverse manifestations through which order is maintained and conduct is shaped.
In the Śānti Parva dialogue on kingship and ethics, Bhishma instructs Yudhiṣṭhira. Here he enumerates a long series of paired conditions and moral-psychological states to show that the king’s instrument of rule—daṇḍa—operates across all domains of life, not merely as physical punishment but as a comprehensive framework of regulation and discernment.