Shloka 24
Ārjava, Satya, and the Virocana–Sudhanvan Exemplum
Udyoga-parva 35
येषां हि वृत्तं व्यथते न योनि- श्षित्तप्रसादेन चरन्ति धर्मम् । ते कीर्तिमिच्छन्ति कुले विशिष्टां त्यक्तानृतास्तानि महाकुलानि
yeṣāṃ hi vṛttaṃ vyathate na yoni-ś citta-prasādena caranti dharmam | te kīrtim icchanti kule viśiṣṭāṃ tyaktānṛtās tāni mahākulāni ||
Vidura sagt: Diejenigen, deren guter Wandel nicht erschlafft, die ihre Eltern nicht durch eigene Fehler kränken, die Dharma mit heiterem und willigem Herzen üben und die die Unwahrheit aufgeben, um den besonderen guten Ruf ihres Geschlechts zu mehren—nur solche Familien sind wahrhaft groß und edel.
विदुर उवाच
Educational Q&A
True nobility is defined by steady good conduct, not harming one’s parents through one’s faults, practicing dharma with a calm mind, and renouncing falsehood; such virtues alone make a lineage genuinely ‘great.’
In Udyoga Parva, Vidura offers moral counsel (nīti) in the tense pre-war context, emphasizing ethical standards and inner discipline as the real markers of high birth and lasting reputation.