Shloka 12
Kurukṣetra-anudarśanam — Rāma-hradāḥ and the Question of Kṣatra Continuity (शान्ति पर्व, अध्याय ४८)
महात्मना भगवता रामेण यदुपुड्भव । कथमुत्सादितं क्षत्र॑ं कथं वृद्धिमुपागतम्,यदुपुड़व! महात्मा भगवान् परशुरामने क्षत्रियोंका संहार किसलिये किया और उसके बाद इस जातिकी वृद्धि कैसे हुई?
yudhiṣṭhira uvāca |
mahātmanā bhagavatā rāmeṇa yadu-puṅgava |
katham utsāditaṃ kṣatraṃ kathaṃ vṛddhim upāgatam ||
قال يودهيشثيرا: «يا أكرمَ اليادويّين، كيف أُبيدت سطوةُ طبقةِ المحاربين (قوةُ الكشاتريا) على يدِ راما العظيم ذي الطبيعة الإلهية، باراشوراما؟ وبعد ذلك الخراب، كيف عادت تلك السلالةُ الكشاتريةُ نفسها إلى النموّ والازدهار؟»
युधिछिर उवाच
Educational Q&A
The verse frames an ethical-historical problem: when royal power becomes corrupt or oppressive, even a divinely empowered agent may punish it severely; yet social order cannot remain void, so legitimate kṣatriya authority must be restored. It invites reflection on proportionality of punishment, the limits of violence, and the necessity of re-establishing dharma after upheaval.
Yudhiṣṭhira addresses a leading Yādava and asks for an account of Paraśurāma’s destruction of the kṣatriyas—how it occurred and why—and then asks how the kṣatriya order, after being devastated, later increased again.