Shloka 49
Dambhodbhava, Nara-Nārāyaṇa, and the Counsel to Abandon Hubris
Udyoga-parva 94
हन्यते प्रेक्षमाणानां हतास्तत्र सभासद: । “जहाँ सभासदोंके देखते-देखते अधर्मके द्वारा धर्मका और मिथ्याके द्वारा सत्यका गला घोंटा जाता हो, वहाँ वे सभासद् नष्ट हुए माने जाते हैं ।।
vaiśampāyana uvāca | hanyate prekṣamāṇānāṁ hatās tatra sabhāsadaḥ |
Vaiśampāyana sprach: In einer Versammlung, in der Unrecht die Rechtschaffenheit erwürgt und Lüge die Wahrheit erstickt, während die Mitglieder nur zusehen, sind eben diese Versammelten als bereits erschlagen zu gelten — sittlich zugrunde gerichtet durch ihr schweigendes Mitwissen.
वैशम्पायन उवाच
Educational Q&A
Witnessing injustice without resisting it is itself a form of participation. When an assembly allows adharma and falsehood to prevail openly, its members incur moral ruin; their social role obliges them to protect dharma and truth, not merely observe their defeat.
In the Udyoga Parva’s counsel-and-diplomacy setting, the narrator (Vaiśampāyana) articulates a principle about courtly assemblies: if courtiers watch as righteousness is crushed and truth is suppressed, the assembly is already corrupted, and its members are considered destroyed in ethical terms.