Shloka 27
दुर्ग-निवेश-राजधर्मः | Fortified Capital and the King’s Residential Polity
Rājadharma
सर्वार्थत्यागिनं राजा कुले जात॑ बहुश्रुतम् । पूजयेत् तादृशं दृष्टया शयनासनभोजनै:
sarvārthatyāginaṃ rājā kule jātaṃ bahuśrutam | pūjayet tādṛśaṃ dṛṣṭvā śayanāsanabhojanaiḥ ||
Bhīṣma sprach: Trifft ein König auf einen Mann aus gutem Geschlecht, kundig im heiligen Wissen und der allen weltlichen Zielen entsagt hat, so soll er ihn—seinen Wert erkennend—ehren, indem er ihm Lager, Sitz und Speise gewährt.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
A king should actively honor and support a learned renunciant—someone who has given up worldly aims—by offering respectful hospitality (lodging, a seat of honor, and food). This frames royal duty as service to dharma through reverence for spiritual discipline and knowledge.
In the Śānti Parva’s instruction on rājadharma, Bhīṣma is advising the king (Yudhiṣṭhira in context) on proper conduct toward virtuous people. He specifies concrete acts of honor—bed, seat, and food—when such a renunciant scholar is encountered.