Shloka 97
रसा: सर्वे क्षयं यान्ति यदा नेच्छति भूमिप: । प्रजा: संरक्षितुं सम्यग् दण्डनीतिसमाहित:,जब राजा दण्डनीतिमें प्रतिष्ठित होकर प्रजाकी भली-भाँति रक्षा करना नहीं चाहता है, उस समय इस पृथ्वीके सारे रस ही नष्ट हो जाते हैं
rasāḥ sarve kṣayaṃ yānti yadā necchati bhūmipaḥ | prajāḥ saṃrakṣituṃ samyag daṇḍanīti-samāhitaḥ ||
যেতিয়া ৰজা দণ্ডনীতিত প্ৰতিষ্ঠিত হৈও প্ৰজাক সম্যকভাৱে ৰক্ষা কৰিবলৈ সঁচাকৈ ইচ্ছা নকৰে, তেতিয়া পৃথিৱীৰ সকলো ‘ৰস’—সমৃদ্ধি, উৰ্বৰতা আৰু জীৱনধাৰক সম্পদ—ক্ষয়প্ৰাপ্ত হয়।
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Kingship is justified by protection. Even if a ruler possesses daṇḍanīti (administrative and punitive power), without the sincere will to safeguard subjects, the realm’s prosperity and the earth’s sustaining resources decline—an ethical warning that authority must serve welfare (rakṣaṇa) to uphold dharma.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on rajadharma, Bhishma continues advising Yudhishthira about the duties of a ruler. Here he states a consequence of negligent governance: when a king fails to protect the people, the kingdom’s prosperity withers, symbolized as the ‘rasas’ of the earth perishing.