Shloka 7
Kṣātra-dharma in Campaign and Battle: Protection, Purification, and the Ideal Warrior’s End (क्षात्रधर्मः—अभियानयुद्धे रक्षणदानशुद्धिः)
एवं शस्त्राणि मुज्चन्तो घ्नन्ति वध्याननेकथा । तस्यैषां निष्कृति: कृत्स्ना भूतानां भावनं पुन:
evaṁ śastrāṇi muñcanto ghnanti vadhyān anekathā | tasya eṣāṁ niṣkṛtiḥ kṛtsnā bhūtānāṁ bhāvanaṁ punaḥ ||
Bhishma sprach: Selbst während sie Waffen schleudern, erschlagen sie auf vielerlei Weise jene, die zu erschlagen sind. Die volle Sühne für solche Taten ist dies: nach dem Krieg das Wohl aller Lebewesen erneut zu fördern und wiederherzustellen.
भीष्म उवाच
Educational Q&A
Even when killing occurs in a sanctioned context like warfare, moral responsibility remains; the proper redress is not merely ritual but concrete governance—restoring, protecting, and promoting the prosperity of all beings after the conflict.
In the Shanti Parva’s instruction on dharma and statecraft, Bhishma explains to the king that acts of wartime killing, though directed at ‘vadhya’ enemies, require a compensatory duty: post-war reconstruction and the renewed nurturing of the realm’s living beings.