Shloka 3
Ālasyadoṣa-nirdeśa (On the Fault of Negligence) — The Camel’s Long-Neck Exemplum
न चैवं वर्तितव्यं सम यथेदमनुशुश्रुम । उष्टस्य तु महद् वृत्तं तन्निबोध युधिष्ठिर,युधिष्ठिर! हमने एक ऊँटका जो महान वृत्तान्त सुन रखा है, उसे तुम सुनो। राजाको वैसा बर्ताव नहीं करना चाहिये
na caivaṁ vartitavyaṁ sama yathedam anuśuśruma | uṣṭasya tu mahad vṛttaṁ tan nibodha yudhiṣṭhira ||
Bhīṣma sprach: „So darf man nicht handeln, wie wir es aus der Überlieferung vernommen haben. Doch höre, o Yudhiṣṭhira, die große Erzählung von einem Kamel—(sie zeigt), wie ein König sich nicht verhalten soll.“
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Bhīṣma cautions that a ruler (and by extension any person in authority) must not behave in a certain improper way; to clarify the ethical point, he introduces a traditional illustrative tale (dṛṣṭānta) about a camel, implying that the story will exemplify conduct a king should avoid.
In the ongoing instruction on rājadharma in Śānti Parva, Bhīṣma addresses Yudhiṣṭhira and transitions into an exemplum: he says he has heard a significant account about a camel and asks Yudhiṣṭhira to listen, setting up the forthcoming story as a moral warning.